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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/adventuretravele01unge 




THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Leader of the African Expedition under the auspices of the 
Smithsonian Institution 



Adventure-Travel-Exploration 

ROOSEVELT'S 
AFRICAN TRIP 

The Story of his Life, the Voyage from 

New York to Mombasa, and the Route 

through the Heart of Africa 

Including 

The Big Game and Other Ferocious Animals, Strange 

Peoples and Countries found in the 

Course of his Travels. 



By 
FREDERICK WILLIAM UNGER 

THE FAMOUS AFRICAN TRAVELER 

Author of "With Bobs and Kruger," "Russia and 

Japan," Etc. Former African Correspondent 

of the "London Daily Express." 

Celebrated Lecturer, War Correspondent, Traveler in the 
Klondike, Manchuria, Africa and other parts of the World. 



LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED 

FROM PHOTOGRAPHS JUST TAKEN IN AFRICA 
and numerous beautiful engravings and maps. 






Copyright 1909, by 
W. E. Scull. 



<gGLA215486 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

BOOK ONE 
The Marvelous Career of Theodore Roosevelt 

" No man has lived more fully than he the life of his time " 

CHAPTER I. 



PAGE 



The African Expedition and Its Objects 19 

CHAPTER II. 



Boyhood and Early Life 25 

CHAPTER III. . 
Exposing Graft in New York State 31 

CHAPTER IV. 
Among the Cowboys and in the Hunting Field 37 

CHAPTER V. 
Fighting the Spoils Hunters and Rascals 44 

CHAPTER VI. 
Naval Secretary and Rough Rider 51 

CHAPTER VII. 
Governor and Vice-President 57 

(ix) 



* . TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VIII. 
In the Presidential Chair 63 

CHAPTER IX. 
Reformer and Peacemaker 69 



BOOK TWO 
Roosevelt's Interesting Journey 

Through the Heart of Africa 

CHAPTER X. 
From New York to Mombasa JJ 

CHAPTER XL 
The East African Railroad 88 

CHAPTER XII. 
Nairobi and Mt. Kenya. 101 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Westward to Lake Victoria Nyanza 114 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Beautiful Uganda 124 

CHAPTER XV. 
Down the Victoria Nile 136 




Copyright, igo8, by Harris & Ewin& 
KERMIT ROOSEVELT 
Who accompanied his father on the expedition to Central Africa 



PAGE 



xii TABLE OF CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXV. 

African Gnawers 258 

f 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
Toothless Ant-Eaters - 262 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Crocodiles and Snakes 266 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Birds of Prey 277 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Poisonous Insects 283 



BOOK FOUR 
Thrilling Adventures of Other Great Explorers 

Strange Peoples and Countries Discovered by Pioneers Who Preceded Roosevelt 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Early Explorers of Africa 293 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
David Livingstone, the Beloved Missionary. 299 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Livingstone's Missionary Travels 306 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Livingstone's Journey Across Africa. 314 



TABLE OF CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 



PAGE 



Livingstone on the Zambesi 321 

CHAPTER XXXV. 
Livingstone's Last Journey 329 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
Stanley's Search for Livingstone t>37 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Stanley's Journey Through Africa 346 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
Stanley's Great Congo Expedition 355 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 
The Relief of Emin Pasha 361 

CHAPTER XL. 
Cameron's Journey Across Africa 367 

CHAPTER XLI. 
Sir Samuel Baker and the Slave Trade 373 

CHAPTER XLII. 
In the Land of Gorillas and Pygmies 380 

CHAPTER XLIII. 
A Brave German Among the Cannibals 387 



BOOK ONE 



THE MARVELOUS CAREER 
OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



CHAPTER I 



The African Expedition and Its Objects 

IT is a difficult matter to follow the path of Theodore Roosevelt. 
Not that it is in any sense a crooked path. It is, on the contrary, 

remarkable for its undeviating straightness. But the hero of 
our work has cut so wide a swath in his course through modern 
history, has found interest in such a multitude of subjects, has taken 
a prominent part in so many fields of human endeavor, that one stands 
almost appalled before the varied 
panorama of his career. 

It is a fact of striking signifi- 
cance, yet one thoroughly character- 
istic of the man, that, after filling for 
years one of the highest places in the 
civilized world, as ruler of the great- 
est of modern nations, he has leaped 
at one plunge into the heart of un- 
adulterated nature, the realm of 
native savagery, and exchanged his 
gladiatorial struggle in the arena of 
politics for as strenuous a one with the 
savage denizens of the African wilds. 
While proposing here to deal 
with the whole story of his life, we 

seem drawn at the start to its final episode, so far as his life's story has 
yet developed, that having to do with his career as a modern Nimrod, 
a fearless hunter of fearless beasts. The figure of the hunter has ever 
stood prominent in history. In fact, history almost begins with it, 
for the image of Nimrod, "a mighty hunter before the Lord," stands 
out in clear outlines before our eyes on the misty border line of history. 
And here, at history's end, so far as the present day is concerned, 

(19) 




THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



2o THE AFRICAN EXPEDITION AND ITS OBJECTS 

stands forth as prominently before us another mighty hunter, pitting 
his strength and boldness against the greatest and most savage beasts 
the world knows. 

The country in which Theodore Roosevelt is now lost to sight is 
one that less than half of a century ago was as unknown to us as the 
mountains of the moon, the depths of that "dark continent" in whose 
interior civilized man had scarcely set foot. Where Roosevelt and his 
son now are were then groups of warlike tribes, some of them the 
most bloodthirsty of all the African natives. Slowly the pioneers of 
discovery penetrated to their haunts, and slowly the vanguard of 
civilization marched into this wild realm, subduing the natives, forcing 
them to submit to the beneficent bonds of Civilization, bringing peace 
and order to their land, and finally bridging it with that greatest agent 
of civilization, the railroad. To-day men may ride in luxurious ease 
where Stanley and the other daring African travelers trudged with 
endless toil so short a time ago. 

Then came the hunter, for the land through which this railroad 
runs — from Mombasa, on the ocean border, to the waters of the Vic- 
toria Nyanza — was one of the greatest game preserves on the face of 
the earth. Here roamed in multitudes the lordly African elephant, the 
savage and nearly invulnerable rhinoceros, the lion, that terrifying 
desert lord, the stately giraffe, the ferocious buffalo, antelopes in pro- 
fusion and variety, and many other animals, some of which were 
unknown to civilized man. 

And latest of these hunters came hither that Nimrod of the Far 
West, Theodore Roosevelt, to share the perils and taste the excitement 
of the fight for life with these wildest and most savage beasts. Thus 
we introduce our hero into the African wilds, that Paradise of the 
hunter whose delight lies in tlie pursuit of great game and the thrill 
of perilous adventure. 

A skilled, trained, alert hunter was he whose course we are now 
tracing. Many years before he had served his apprenticeship in this 
field of effort, when he exchanged his early legislative career for a 
period of life on a western ranch and the enjoyment of hunting the 
big game of the Rocky Mountains. During his later years this love of 
the wild clung to him. At every convenient interval he threw off the 



ROUTE OF 

Mr, KOOSEVELT'S 
AFEICAK TRIP 

Distances Miles 

Naples to Aden - - - - 2510 
Aden to Mombasa .... 1598 
Mombasa to Port Florence 584 
Port Florence to Entebbe 590 

and around the lake 
Entebbe to Gondokoro 
gondokoro to khartum - 
Khartum to Wadi Halfa 
Wadi Kalfa to Assuan - 
Assuan to Cairo - - - 



450 

000 
560 
214 
583 





Copyright, 1909, by Undencood & Underwood 
A HUGE HIPPOPOTAMUS SHOT IN DEEP WATER 
Ex-President Roosevelt was attacked by twenty of these monsters while in a small rowboat on Lake 
Naivasha. He succeeded in killing two and driving the rest away 



THE AFRICAN EXPEDITION AND ITS OBJECTS 21 

fettering bonds of public duties and sought the haunts of animal life, 
not so much for the pleasure of killing as for the delight of escaping 
for a time from the trammels of civilization. 

In that critical interval when President McKinley lay between 
life and death, his strenuous Vice-President broke away and lost 
himself in the breezy depths of the Adirondacks, where a long hunt 
was needed to find him when tidings came of the President's dying- 
state. In this instance, for once in his life, the hunter became the 
hunted, and proved as hard to find as the shyest of wild creatures. At a 
later date, when the cares of the Presidency lay heavy on his shoulders, 
we find him again breaking away and burying himself in the cane- 
brakes of the Mississippi in ardent pursuit of the elusive bear. 

For a hunter of this calibre, trained and ardent, a man of steady 
nerves and deadly aim, a fearless soldier who had charged up San 
Juan Hill through a rain of plunging bullets, we can well understand 
the refusal to accept again the bonds of the Presidency, the schoolboy 
delight in winning a period of freedom from work, and the gleeful 
enthusiam with which he sought a new field of hunting adventure, the 
one fullest of the spice of danger and promise of thrilling experience 
of any upon the face of the earth. 

Can we justly appreciate the feelings of Theodore Roosevelt when 
he finally set foot on African soil; made his way inland from the sea- 
shore to that crowded domain of wild life where roamed in freedom 
wild animals which hitherto he had only seen behind the bars of strong 
cages ; saw from the train as it plunged onward into the depths of the 
land the graceful giraffe, the crouching lion, the lumbering rhinoceros, 
the various other wild animals which had learned to disregard the 
speeding engine and its rattling cars, having found it a place of safety 
rather than danger, since no bullets came from it to decimate the trust- 
ing herd ? 

The world of civilization lay behind him. Before him opened a 
world of savagery. Men there were as savage as beasts, all alike 
scions of open nature, free to give way to instinct, destitute of training 
and education except that which adapted them to the needs of wild life. 
Here for ages the struggle for existence had gone on in its primitive 
phase. Now civilization, armed with new weapons and new laws, 



22 THE AFRICAN EXPEDITION AND ITS OBJECTS 

had made its way into this homestead of savagery ; and while the stern 
rule of the whites forced the warlike natives to take up the arts of 
peace, the death-dealing rifle began to decimate the crowding multi- 
tude of wild beasts. 

Among them had now come a hunter from the West, one who 
had tried every phase of adventure to be found in the hills and forests 
of America, and who came eager for the fresh hunting experiences 
offered by Africa. He came in good time. The slaughter of the herd 
had begun, but wild animals roamed there still in vast abundance, and 
the enthusiastic hunter could not fail to find opportunities for the most 
nerve-straining experiences. 

It is not our purpose here to follow Roosevelt step by step through 
these primitive scenes, to describe how animal after animal fell before 
his unerring rifle, to tell how he faced the lion in his lair or the fero- 
cious rhinoceros or buffalo in his charge, and laid him a victim before 
his victorious feet. Later on the reader will be regaled with adven- 
turous feats of this kind, but here we are concerned only with the gen- 
eral phases of the hunter's life, the preliminary topic of our work. 

And here it may be said that it was not the bloodthirst pure and 
simple that animated the hunter. He had another object in his jour- 
ney, that of aiding the cause of science, of furnishing the galleries 
of the Smithsonian Institution with specimens of the varied animal 
life of Africa, before this should perish in the general battle which had 
begun. 

This done, and it had been fairly completed by mid July, his mis- 
sion in Africa would be at an end and he would be ready to return to 
civilized lands. He had now nearly reached that stage, as news under 
date of July 19 stated that only rare specimens were being shot, the 
collection for the Smithsonian being complete. And civilization was 
beginning to lay its grasp again upon the hunter, for we are told that 
he had stopped hunting to write a book — another of the favorite occu- 
pations of his leisure hours; one of his relaxations, if we may call it 
such. And his request to a correspondent to "give the news" shows 
that his cutting loose from the civilized world was not complete, that 
a touch of homesickness at times disturbed his nerves. 

Yet with this tidings came to us incidents of thrilling adventure. 



THE AFRICAN EXPEDITION AND ITS OBJECTS 



2 . 5 



We are told of the arrival at Naivasha of a member of the expedition, 
who came to the town in unloitering haste, being chased in by five lions. 
Roosevelt at the same time had his most threatening experience. He 
had set out on a hippopotamus hunt on the waters of Lake Naivasha 
in a small boat with two native attendants, and unexpectedly found 
himself assailed by a dozen of these huge water monsters. The situ- 
ation was one of extreme peril and the natives were thrown into a 
panic, especially when some of the brutes dove under the boat and 
sought to lift it on their clumsy heads. 

Coolness and nerve were needed at this moment of peril and they 
did not fail Colonel Roosevelt. He shot two of the largest of the hip- 
popotami, scared away the others, and came triumphantly ashore, 
towing in his prizes. But if the United States is to have the benefit 
of his future services it will be just as well that he does not repeat such 
experiences. As for his son Kermit, it is said that this youthful hunter 
has shown more enthusiasm than caution in the pursuit of African 
game, some of his animal encounters approaching recklessness and 
calling for caution from his experienced father. 

We may conclude this chapter with a few remarks on a co-ordi- 
nate topic, that of the ethical bearing of a hunter's life. It cannot be 
denied that, aside from all purposes of scientific reward from the use 
of his rifle, our hunter was largely moved by the desire for pure sport, 
the bloodthirst that has animated the hunter in all ages. 

Yet is this as reprehensible as it is held to be by many? Is the 
life of one of these brute tenants of the African wilds a matter of 
ethical moment? "They toil not, neither do they spin." They live 
mainly to eat and reproduce their kind. No useful powers of thought 
animate their undeveloped brains, no provision for the morrow dis- 
turbs their narrow intellects ; when they fall before the hunter's bullet 
it is with as little disturbance of the economy of nature as when a huge 
oak falls before the forester's axe. To destroy an entire forest may 
be a serious injury. To annihilate an animal species may disturb the 
balance of nature. Yet to fell an individual tree or rhinoceros can have 
no such effect, and aside from the passing spasm of pain in the latter 
instance it does not appear to have any ethical significance. That 
is, so far as the animal is concerned, since it may be saved by the 



24 THE AFRICAN EXPEDITION AND ITS OBJECTS 

bullet from greater suffering in its after life. So far, however, as 
the man is concerned it has a different significance. To kill for pure 
sport cannot but dull the finer elements of human feeling and develop 
the sentiment of destruction. Yet while there are wild animals there 
will be hunters. The active, adventurous spirit of man leads him 
inevitably in this direction, and Roosevelt, in his hunting expedition, 
aside from the scientific purpose involved, has been yielding to the 
native instinct derived from primeval man and from which few of us 
wholly escape. 




Copyright, li)09, by Underwood & Underwood 
REWARD OF A ZEBRA SHOOT 
Zebras are as common as deer in the jungle. Ex-President Roosevelt added them to his collection 
for the Smithsonian Institution 




Copt/ric/ht, won. ft?/ Undericood & Underwood 
THE GIANT MAN-EATING CROCODILE OF CENTRAL AFRICA 
'The crocodile was caught asleep ashore and nailed down with a high-power Winchester rifle" 



CHAPTER II 

Boyhood and Early Life 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT comes to us from good old Amer- 
ican stock, the family of the Roosevelts tracing their career 
on this continent to the days of the sturdy old Dutch governor, 
Peter Stuyvesant. Klass Martenson Van Roosevelt, the first of the 
name in this country, landed in New Amsterdam in 1649. From that 
time on the family occupied a position of prominence in New York City, 
taking an active part in the war for independence, and later on becom- 
ing energetic and wealthy members of the mercantile community. 

Born in New York City October 27, 1858, Theodore Roosevelt 
was given his father's name and inherited some of his father's char- 
acteristics, especially his love of outdoor life and his interest in the 
doings of the "common people." 

A thin, pale, delicate lad, weak and short-sighted, he did not seem 
a hopeful case for the building of a strong man. Indeed, to keep him 
from the rough play of the public schools, which he seemed unfit to 
bear, he was taught at home and in private schools. Yet the boy had 
under this pale exterior the inborn energy from which strong men are 
made. Determined to be the equal of his fellows, "to make a man of 
himself/' as he has said, he took part in all sorts of boyish sports and 
exercises. He learned to swim, to row, to ride; he tramped over hill 
and dale. In this way the delicate child grew up to be a hardy boy 
and developed into a man with muscles of steel and indomitable vim 
and endurance. 

Stories of animals and adventure interested him from early boy- 
hood. The favorite pursuits of the man began to declare themselves 
in the child when he was but six years of age. And his love for a 
good, hard fight in later life manifested itself as early. There are 
several stories extant of his boyhood contests, one of which may be 
worth telling. 

(aS) 



2 6 BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE 

One day he came home from school with muddy clothes and 
scratched and bleeding face and hands. 

"What is the matter, Teddy?" asked his father. 

"Why, a boy up the street made a face at me and said: 'Your 
father's a fakir.' He was a good deal bigger than me, but I couldn't 
stand that; so I just pitched in. I had a pretty hard time, but I licked 
him." 

"That's right, I am glad you licked him," said the older Theodore, 
who evidently was born with fighting blood, like his combative son. 

We may quote from the younger Theodore a statement which lets 
in a good deal of light upon the character of the father and upon the 
inheritance and training of the son. He tells us this : 

"My father, all my people, held that no one had a right to merely 
cumber the earth; that the most contemptible of created beings is the 
man who does nothing. I imbibed the idea that I must work hard, 
whether at making money or whatever. The whole family training 
taught me that I must be doing, must be working — and at decent work. 
I made my health what it is. I determined to be strong and well, and 
did everything to make myself so. By the time I entered Harvard 
College I was able to take my part in whatever sports I liked. I 
wrestled and sparred and ran a great deal while in college, and though 
I never came in first, I got more good out of the exercise than those 
who did, because I immensely enjoyed it and never injured myself." 

Such was the training of the boy Roosevelt. We have had abun- 
dant examples of its result in the career of the man Roosevelt. 

The daring spirit which he has manifested in later life seems to 
have been born in him. His boyish escapades were many and often 
perilous. A woman who lived next door to the Roosevelt house once, 
saw young Theodore hanging from a second-story window and ran 
in alarm to warn his mother. 

"If the Lord," she said, "had not taken care of Theodore, he 
would have been killed long ago." 

The boy's life was an active one throughout, but his time was 
not wasted. He was taking in knowledge as well as winning hardi- 
hood. In his tramps through the woods his eyes were kept busy, and 
he grew especially to know the birds, their songs, their nests, their 



BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE 27 

plumage. He thus cultivated the habit of observation and study, 
while his active outdoor life gave strength to his muscles and tough- 
ened his frame. 

And in these early days that love of the wild which has become a 
marked element of his character began to develop. He read stories 
of the great Western plains and began to long to set foot in the 
wilderness. Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales fell into his hands and 
these he devoured with a strong appetite. His friend Jacob Riis 
asked him once if he liked them. 

"Like them!" he exclaimed, with kindling eyes. "Like them! 
Why, man, there is nothing kke them. I could pass an examination 
in the whole of them to-day. Deerslayer with his long rifle, Jasper 
and Hurry Harry, Ishmael Bush with his seven stalwart sons — do I 
not know them? I have bunked with them and eaten with them, and 
I know their strength and their weakness. They were narrow and 
hard, but they did the work of their day and opened the way for ours. 
Do I like them ? Cooper is unique in American literature, and he will 
grow upon us as we get farther away from his day, let the critics say 
what they will." 

Roosevelt as a boy was a busy reader, as he has managed to be a 
busy reader amid the absorbing labors of his later life. But he was 
a true boy, one of the type which he has since laid down for the 
genuine American boy. 

"The chances are strong," he says of young hopeful, "that he 
won't be much of a man unless he is a good deal of a boy. He must 
not be a coward or a weakling, a bully, a shirk, or a prig. He must 
work hard and play hard. He must be clean-minded and clean-lived, 
and able to hold his own under all circumstances and against all 
comers. In life, as in football, the principle to follow is : Hit the line 
hard; don't foul and don't shirk, but hit the line hard." He seems 
here speaking of himself. 

The time came when the active, energetic, somewhat strenuous 
lad with whose life story we are concerned entered Harvard College 
to complete his education. He was then eighteen years of age. It 
was an education of the type of that of his earlier years, one of much 
physical exercise and a fair share of mental discipline. He did his 



2 8 BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE 

best to "hit the line hard." We are not told that he shone as a student 
or graduated amid acclamations, but during his years within college 
walls he added much to the strength of his physical and mental fibre. 

The anecdotes extant of his college career are evidence of this. 
He lived the life strong, took active part in all that was going on, and 
became quickly a favorite with his class. They laughed at his odd 
ways and at his enthusiasm, voted him "more or less crazy," but 
respected him for his scholarship and found themselves falling into 
his ways. 

There was an instance of this when he began the child-like 
exercise of skipping the rope, claiming that it was excellent for 
strengthening the leg muscles. Soon his classmates, convinced by his 
arguments, were following in his track, and rope-skipping became a 
pastime of the class. In the gymnasium they wore red stockings with 
their exercise suits. Roosevelt donned a pair of patriotic red-and- 
white striped ones, and did not know at first at what his fellows were 
laughing. When he was told he laughed, too, but kept them on. 

There were none of the college games in which he did not take 
part. He did not shine in any of them, but they gave him strength 
and vigor, which was what he was after, rather than victory. He 
played polo, he wrestled and ran with his fellows, he drove a two- 
wheeled gig — badly enough, but he enjoyed it. His first bout with 
the boxing gloves was with the champion of the class, a man twice 
his size and weight, with whom he instinctively matched himself. The 
pummeling that followed he took with good will, and though his 
glasses fell off, leaving him half blind, he grimly refused to cry quarter, 
and pressed the fight home with all the vim of a berserker. Never since 
has he learned how to cry quarter or to acknowledge in any fight that 
he has been whipped. 

There is one story told of him worth repeating, though it may be 
a college fable. In one of his boxing bouts his antagonist took a mean 
advantage, and struck him, drawing blood, while Roosevelt was still 
adjusting his glove. "Foul!" cried the bystanders, but Roosevelt 
merely smiled grimly. 

"I guess you have made a mistake. That is not our way here," 
he said, offering his hand to the fellow as a sign to begin hostilities. 



BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE 29 

Instantly his right hand shot out, taking the man on the point of the 
jaw. The left followed. Down went the culprit with a crash. The 
unfair blow had stirred up all the Roosevelt fighting blood, and it is a 
hot grade of blood when it is up. 

Other things than games and exercise attracted the college boy s 
attention. His father had been active in the work of public aid. He 
died while the boy was at college, and young Theodore sought to walk 
in his footsteps. He became Secretary of the Prison Reform Associa- 
tion and acted on several committees. In addition he became a teacher 
in a Sunday-school. His family faith was the Dutch Reformed, but 
he found no church of that denomination at Cambridge, and drifted 
into a mission school of the high church Episcopalian faith. 

JHe did not stay there long. One day a boy came to his class with 
a black eye. When questioned, he acknowledged that he got it in a 
fight, and that, too, on Sunday. The class was scandalized and the 
teacher questioned him sternly. The fact came out that "Jim," the 
other boy, had sat beside the lad's sister and had pinched her all 
through the school hour. A fight followed, in which Jim got soundly 
punched, the avenger of his sister coming out with a black eye. 

"You did just right," was Roosevelt's verdict, and he gave the 
young champion a dollar. 

This pleased the class highly. It appealed to them as justice. 
But when it got out among the school officers they were scandalized. 
And Roosevelt was a black sheep among them in other ways. He did 
not observe the formalities of the high church service as they thought 
he should. They asked if he had any objection to them. None in the 
world, but — he was Dutch Reformed. This was too much. Some 
words followed and Roosevelt got out and entered a Congregational 
Sunday-school near by, where he taught during the remainder of his 
college term. Just what he taught we are not aware, but it seems 
rather amusing to think of Theodore Roosevelt as a Sunday-school 
teacher. 

What now about the real work for which one goes to college, the 
studies, the diligent pursuit of knowledge? That he was an earnest 
student of those subjects which especially interested him we may be 
sure from what we know of the man. His tastes turned toward the 



3 o BOYHOOD AND EARLY LIFE 

study of living things, men and animals. As the years went on he 
grew deeply interested in the study of human life, history and institu- 
tions. Political principles attracted him and he read the "Federalist" 
with deep absorption. To become lost in a book, indeed, was common 
with him. The story goes that, when visiting a fellow-student, he 
would be apt to pick up a volume, and immediately become so buried 
in its contents that a cannon would hardly have awakened him to the 
social duty of the hour. 

Before leaving college he had gone beyond reading to the task of 
writing a book. Reading the extant histories of naval battles in the 
War of 1812, he found them unfairly partisan. William James's 
history, an English work, was full of one-sided statements. The 
American histories he examined seemed as much on the other side. 
An impartial history appeared to be needed, and he set out to write one. 
He studied the official files, and "The Naval History of 1812," his first 
work, is an acknowledged authority. Its fairness led to his being 
complimented by an invitation to write the chapter on this war for the 
monumental British work, "The Royal Navy." 

We cannot go further into the details of Roosevelt's college life. 
It must suffice to say that when, in 1880, graduation day. arrived, he 
stood among the first twenty of the one hundred and forty of his class ; 
not at the top, but at a very respectable distance from the bottom. 

His college career ended, he went abroad to get a glimpse of the 
world outside America. But he did not stay long. His love of walking 
led him to take a tramp afoot through Germany. The sight of the 
Alps inspired him to climb the Jungfrau and the Matterhorn. He 
halted for a period of study at Dresden. His journey reached as far 
east as Asia. But he was back in New York in the year after his 
graduation, prepared to take his part in the battle of life. 



CHAPTER III. 

Exposing Graft in New York State 

THE career of a lawyer, which was the first idea of the college 
graduate, did not long hold the ambitious young man. Engag- 
ing in legal study in the office of his uncle, Robert B. Roosevelt, 
at the age of twenty-three, he at once took part in the political affairs 
of his district, and with such energy and effect that he was elected as a 
State representative before the year ended. It happened, as he tells 
us, in this way: 

"After leaving college I went to the local political headquarters, 
attended all the meetings and took my part in whatever came up. 
There arose a revolt against the member of Assembly from that dis- 
trict, and I was nominated to succeed him and elected." 

A rapid beginning this for so young a man. His innate power 
must have been very evident to meet with the sudden recognition. 
His legal studies ended then and there, for from that time on he was 
too deeply engaged in public duties to be able to devote time to so 
exhausting a pursuit as the law. 

It was in the fall of 1881 that he was elected, and when he entered 
the State House at Albany in 1882 he was the youngest member of 
the Assembly. Yet he was full of ideas, overflowing with energy, and 
instead of keeping in the background, as such youthful legislators are 
expected to do, he soon made himself a storm center in the House. 

Beginning with a study of his colleagues, within two months he 
had classified them all, dividing them into two classes — the good and 
the bad. The former were decidedly in the minority, but the young 
Assemblyman lost no time in identifying himself with them, and this 
with such force and ability that he was soon their undisputed leader. 
There was corruption, abundance of it, deep and intrenched, corrup- 
tion much of which had slept serene and undisturbed for years, and it 
was against this that he couched his lance. 

(30 



3 2 



EXPOSING GRAFT IN NEW YORK STATE 



Some of the veterans were at first amused at the precocious 
assaults of the young member from the Twenty-first District, and 
rather inclined to laugh at his undisciplined energy. But they soon 
found that he was a fighter who could not be kept under. He was 
a ready and attractive speaker, good-natured yet hard-hitting, and 
could be savagely sarcastic when he had some piece of rascality to 
expose. His good clothes and eye-glasses made some of the members 
think him effeminate, but they were not long in learning that he had 
plenty of courage, both mental and physical, and public opinion outside 
of the legislative halls was quickly in his favor. 

Thus from the start young Roosevelt made his mark in that 
career upon which he had now definitely launched himself. He was 
a born reformer and strongly backed all measures for the public good 
that came before the House. A new and reformed charter was badly 
needed for New York City and for several years attempts had been 
vainly made to enact one. It was this for which he most ardently 
fought. The corrupt city departments had found strength in union, 
and intrenched in this they defied the reformers. Roosevelt attacked 
them separately and one by one he overthrew them. He was twice re- 
elected and during his three terms in the Legislature he saved the 
people hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, which would other- 
wise have gone into the "grab-bag" of the grafters. 

Shall we give some of the particulars of his legislative career? 
One of the most significant came early in his first session, one in which 
he took his stand and made his mark as a born foe of corruption. He 
was new then to the ways of legislators. He was soon to learn some- 
thing of them and to teach his fellow-members something of his own 
ways and ideas. 

The occasion was the following: Such high officials as the 
Attorney-General of the State and a judge of the Supreme Court 
became involved in an unsavory bit of corruption connected with an 
elevated railway ring. The people were aroused by the scandalous 
affair and petitioned the Legislature. Young Roosevelt waited to see 
what they would do. That the honor of the judiciary should be 
smirched was a thing of horror to him. When he saw that they 
proposed to do nothing and smother the inquiry, the knightly spirit 
in him arose. 



EXPOSING GRAFT IN NEW YORK STATE 33 

It was the true opening day in his public career when, on April 6, 
1882, he rose from his seat in the Assembly and demanded that Judge 
Westbrook, of Newburg, should be impeached. The speech he made 
was one not strikingly eloquent, but it was one in which he did not 
hesitate to call a spade a spade. To him a thief worth a million was 
still a thief and deserved no softer name. He told the plain truth in 
indignant words and slashed savagely at the two corrupt officials. 

The leader of the Republicans in the House followed the insurgent 
with soothing words. He desired that young Mr. Roosevelt should 
have time to think if his course had been wise, saying mildly, "I have 
seen many reputations in the State broken down by loose charges made 
in the Legislature." 

The vote was taken and "Young Mr. Roosevelt" was squelched. 
But he did not stay squelched. He defied the party leaders and their 
admonitions to wisdom. The next day and the next day and the next 
day he was up again, pounding away with all the strength in him. 
Reporters took it up. The scandal got into the papers and the public 
indignation widened. After eight days of this unwearying assault he 
demanded a new vote on his resolution. By this time the thing had 
spread throughout the State. The Assemblymen did not dare put 
themselves on record as seeking to hide corruption. The opposition 
collapsed. Roosevelt won by a vote of 104 to 6. 

In the end the delinquent officials escaped through a whitewashing 
report. But Roosevelt had won his fight. From that time he was a 
marked man on the side of justice and truth. What his constituents 
thought of him was shown in the next election, when he was sent back 
with a big majority in a year in which his party went to pieces before 
Democratic assault. What his fellow-members thought of him was 
shown when the Republicans of the Assembly chose him as their candi- 
date for the Speaker of the House. He did not win ; his party was in the 
minority; but the nomination showed that this young man of twenty- 
four had made himself a power, a man to be reckoned with. 

Other battles he fought ; telling ones. The Board of Aldermen at 
that time had the power to confirm or reject the Mayor's appointments 
of New York officials. With such a board as then existed George 
Washington himself would have been helpless in an effort to have a 
pure administration. To elect a reform board was hopeless. The 



34 EXPOSING GRAFT IN NEW YORK STATE 

only remedy lay in taking from the Aldermen their power. This 
Roosevelt fought for and achieved. His bill gave the control over 
appointments to the Mayor himself, and in this way did much to 
strengthen the hands of honest government in New York. 

As for the prevailing system of appointment to office — the "spoils 
system," as it had long been called — it did not appeal to him as the 
way to get good service. The best men could be obtained only by a 
public inquiry into their attainments and fitness, and he was from the 
start a supporter of the merit system which was then in the air. Civil 
Service Reform, alike in nation and State was being demanded, and 
Roosevelt had the honor of introducing the first intelligently drawn 
civil service bill ever presented to the New York Legislature. Passed 
in 1883, by an odd coincidence it was signed by Governor Cleveland 
at nearly the same time as the civil service bill passed by Congress was 
signed by President Arthur. 

By this time the young Assemblyman was looked upon by all 
parties as a rising man. The pot-house politicians could not see why 
"Teddy with the kid gloves" and a fat bank account wanted to meddle 
with things which had gone on well enough for a century. But he 
knew why; the air was tainted and he wished to make it fit for an 
honest man to breathe. Therefore, when any odor of corruption arose, 
he dashed in regardless of anything except the warm desire to clear 
the air of its malodorous taint. 

Meanwhile he kept up a degree of interest in New York social 
life, and spent some of his leisure time in the management of the con- 
siderable estate which the death of his father had left to his care. His 
sporting proclivities were manifested in the dogs and horses which he 
kept around him and an occasional dash away with his gun for a 
sporting trip of a month or two. Active outdoor life was a panacea 
which he could not long live without. 

Mr. Roosevelt married during this legislative period, his wife 
being Miss Alice Lee, of Boston, a young lady who deeply admired 
the young Hotspur of the Assembly. This first married life was a brief 
one, his young wife dying in little over a year. She left him a daughter, 
Alice, who was very dear to him. By a sad contingency, his mother 
died in the same week with his wife, leaving him doubly alone. His 
second marriage, to Miss Edith K. Carow, took place in 1886. 



EXPOSING GRAFT IN NEW YORK STATE 35 

In his third legislative year Roosevelt was made chairman of the 
Committee on Cities, an appointment due to the thorough knowledge 
he had attained of affairs in New York and other cities. As such he 
introduced much reform legislation, one of his most important bills 
being that which abolished fees in the offices of the Register and the 
County Clerk. 

In 1884 he was a member of the Republican State Convention and 
was elected by it one of New York's four delegates-at-large to the 
National Republican Convention to nominate a candidate for the Presi- 
dency. George F. Edmunds was his choice for this office. James G. 
Blaine proved the favorite candidate of the convention. Roosevelt was 
one of the strong members in opposition and fought hard to prevent 
Blaine's nomination. The result was a sore thrust to him. Some of 
Blaine's bitter opponents went over to Cleveland, but in this defection 
Roosevelt would not take part. "Whatever good I have accomplished 
has been through the Republican party," he said, and held that no 
results of importance could be gained except through the regular party 
organization. 

As to how he impressed his party at this time we have evidence 
in the words of George William Curtis, a fellow-delegate. He had his 
first meeting with Roosevelt during the heat of the strife and was 
surprised at his youthful appearance. This he said of him to a 
reporter : 

"You'll know more, sir, later; a deal more, or I am much in error. 
Young? Why, he is just out of school almost, and yet he is a force to 
be reckoned with in New York. Later the nation will be criticising 
or praising him. While respectful to the gray hairs and experience 
of his elders, none of them can move him an iota from convictions as 
to men and measures once formed and rooted. He will not truckle nor 
cringe, he seems to court opposition to the point of being somewhat 
pugnacious. His political life will probably be a turbulent one, but he 
will be a figure, not a figurehead, in future development." 

This year (1884) ended Roosevelt's legislative life. He left it 
for a long holiday in the West, the scene of his boyhood dreams and 
aspirations. The story of this outing must wait till our next chapter. 
It must suffice here to say that it ended in 1886, when, sitting by a 



3 6 EXPOSING GRAFT IN NEW YORK STATE 

campfire, he read in a newspaper sent him from New York that a con- 
vention of independent citizens had chosen him as their nominee for 
Mayor of that city. That night he hung up his rifle, packed his trunk, 
and bade good-bye to his life on the plains, starting East to plunge 
once more into the troubled pool of politics. 

There were two other candidates for the office, Abram S. 
Hewitt, the choice of Tammany, and Henry George, the single-tax 
advocate, the nominee of the United Labor party. The citizens who 
nominated Roosevelt did so because they wanted a hard fighter and 
knew they would have one in him. His fight was vigorous, but the 
opposing forces were too strong, and Hewitt was chosen with a 
plurality vote of about 22,000. He had "ruined himself" politically, 
some said, as others had said he had "ruined himself" in his fight with 
the Organization in the Assembly. He was one who did not stay 
"ruined." In the early eighties Andrew D. White, President of Cornell 
University, said to his class : 

"Young gentlemen, some of you will enter public life. I call your 
attention to Theodore Roosevelt, now in our Legislature. He is on the 
right road to success. It is dangerous to predict a future for a young 
man, but let me tell you that if any man of his age was ever pointed 
straight for the Presidency, that man is Theodore Roosevelt." 

Hazardous as Mr. White deemed the prophecy, it proved a true 
one. 



CHAPTER IV 

Among the Cowboys and in the Hunting Field 

WE do not know if the spirit of adventure and the love of wild 
life is innate in the Roosevelt blood, or if Theodore Roose- 
velt got these traits from the Scotch-Irish strain of his 
mother's race. What we do know is that he has them implanted in 
the very fibre of his being. Civilized life and the strife of politics are 
persistent in their demands, but they have never been strong enough 
to hold him a close prisoner. He has broken away from them at 
frequent intervals for a bout in the hunting field, and did so decidedly 
after his three years of legislative life at Albany, seeking a region 
wide enough for him to breathe in freely on the vast plains of the 
wide West. 

Shaking the mire of legislative life from his feet, he sought a 
new field of activity in the frontier region of Dakota, where he spent 
several years in the enjoyment of unadulterated nature, hunting, 
fishing, ranching and roughing it in true Western style, while gath- 
ering an ample supply of that buoyant health that has stood him in 
such good stead since. He started and ran a cattle ranch of his own, 
living in a rough log house partly the work of his own hands. It was 
so far in the wilderness that he had the experience of shooting a deer 
from his own front door. 

He had his own herds to care for and did so in true cowboy style. 
Dressed in a flannel shirt and rough overalls tucked into alligator 
boots, he would help his men in rounding up the cattle, riding 
with the best of them and keeping in the saddle to the end. Then he 
would go home, tingling with the spice of wild outdoor life, to sleep 
off his fatigue in bearskins and buffalo robes, the former wearers of 
which may have fallen under his own rifle. It was a rough and ready 
life, but Roosevelt seemed to the manner born, and enjoyed it as thor- 
oughly as if he had never known what luxury and ease meant. 

(37) 



3 8 AMONG THE COWBOYS AND IN THE HUNTING FIELD 

His ranch lay on both sides of the Little Missouri, in Dakota 
Territory, that section of it which is now the State of North 
Dakota. He lived here in the 'open, making friends with the un- 
disciplined ranchmen and frontiersmen, taking part in all the duties 

of the ranch, and varying 
this with hunting excur- 
sions for big game in the 
surrounding plains and 
on the not distant flanks 
of the Rocky Mountains. 
Vignettes of his life 
here stand out pictur- 
esquely. Thus he tells 
us, not without a sense of 
exultation, of being thir- 
ty-six hours in the saddle 
as one of a party, dis- 
mounting only to change 
horses and to eat. Again 
we behold him with one 
cowboy keeping night 
guard over a herd of a 
thousand cattle in a dry 
camp, spending the whole 
night on horseback in 
strenuous efforts to keep 
the thirsty cattle from 
stampeding in search of 
water. 

More interesting still is the story of the round-up of a herd of 
some two thousand in the midst of a driving blizzard, with pouring 
rain that stretched out in stinging level sheets before the wild wind. 
With this were blinding lightning flashes and terrific thunder which 
maddened the frightened animals, rendering it next to impossible to 
hold them. It reads like the story of a Homeric battle. Round and 
round rode Roosevelt and his men, wheeling and swaying, galloping 




THEODORE ROOSEVELT IN HIS HUNTING COSTUME 



AMONG THE COWBOYS AND IN THE HUNTING FIELD 39 

madly round the stampeding herd, at times checking their horses so 
sharply as to bring them to their haunches or even throw them to the 
ground, until finally they got the beasts corralled and made a mad 
break for the wagons. 

"Though there is much work and hardship, rough fare and 
monotony and exposure connected with the round-up/' writes Mr. 
Roosevelt, "yet there are few men who do not look forward to it and 
back to it with pleasure. It is superbly health-giving and is full of 
excitement and adventure, calling for the exhibition of pluck, self- 
reliance, hardihood and daring horsemanship; and of all forms of 
physical labor the easiest and pleasantest is to sit in the saddle." 

Certainly the late legislator found exhilaration and enjoyment in 
it, and when he came back from this wild life to New York it was with 
a fresh stock of sturdy health. 

When winter came life on the plains lost much of its attraction. 
Grim desolation replaced the genial summer climate. From the north 
blew furious gales, driving blinding snows before them. Or if the 
howling winds ceased for a season, a merciless cold hooded over the 
land, turning the earth to stone, the rivers to sheets of crystal ice. In 
this season there was less work for the ranchmen. The horses shifted 
for themselves and needed no care. The cattle demanded some looking 
after, but much of the time was spent in the ranch-house before the 
huge fireplaces filled with blazing logs. During this period Roosevelt 
spent much time with his pen, describing his experience in his "Hunt- 
ing Trips of a Ranchman." Another book dealing with this period of 
his life was his "Ranch Life and Hunting Trail." About this time 
also he wrote two works of biography, "Life of Thomas Hart Benton" 
and "Life of Gouverneur Morris." 

As may well be supposed, a man of Theodore Roosevelt's character 
made himself felt in the West as he had done in the East. The cowboys 
looked on him as a true comrade, a man who led instead of following, 
who could ride and shoot with the best of them and gave no sign of 
considering himself better than they. Certain anecdotes of his doings 
are among the fireside lore, of the plains. 

Here is the story of the frontier "bad man," who took the "four- 
eyed" stranger for a tenderfoot and set out to have some sport with 



4 o AMONG THE COWBOYS AND IN THE HUNTING FIELD 

him. The rough, well primed with whisky, faced him with a revolver 
in each hand and with a curse bade him treat, enforcing his demand 
by an exhibition of "gun-play." Around sat a roomful of men, none 
of them friends of Roosevelt, who was a stranger in the town. 

It was a case in which common sense counseled obedience, and the 
seeming tenderfoot rose as if to obey. The next instant his left hand 
went out with one of his old Harvard hits and the bully crashed against 
the wall and measured his length on the floor, his pistols exploding in 
the air. When he came to his wits he looked up to see what sort of 
an elephant had trodden on him, and found the tenderfoot standing 
over him, with battle in his eyes. 

"Served him right," was the decision of the crowd and the 
astounded rough incontinently surrended and gave up his guns. This 
was Roosevelt's only experience of this kind. 

Not unlike it, however, is the story of the sheriff who favored some 
cattle thieves, letting them escape. At least there was reason to 
believe that he sided with the outlaws and a meeting of ranch owners 
was held to consider the case. The sheriff was present, and in the 
midst of the meeting Mr. Roosevelt arose and squarely accused this 
official with aiding the cattle thieves. He told him that he and his 
fellows believed the charges to be true. He was unarmed, while from 
the pockets of the rough westerner peeped the handles of two big 
revolvers. And the reputation of the man was such that few of the 
ranchmen would have dared to face him with such charges. 

But the keen unflinching gaze of the inquisitor cowed the fellow. 
The ranchmen sitting around awaited his reply. None came. By his 
silence he acknowledged the truth of the accusation. 

Then there is the story of the Marquis de Mores, a queer French- 
man who had a ranch near Roosevelt's. Some trouble had arisen 
between their cowboys and the Marquis was offended by something 
Roosevelt was reported to have said. Without waiting to inquire into 
its truth he sent Roosevelt a challenge, writing that "there was a way 
for gentlemen to settle their differences." 

Roosevelt's reply was that the story set afloat was a lie, that the 
Marquis had no business to believe it upon such evidence as he had, 
and that he would follow his note in person within the hour. He 



AMONG THE COWBOYS AND IN THE HUNTING FIELD 41 

started out, but before reaching the town where the Marquis was he 
met the messenger returning with a second note in which the French- 
man apologized and cordially invited Roosevelt to dine with him. 

The most exciting of Roosevelt's adventures was that of his win- 
ter hunt for a gang of cattle thieves, down a stream filled with pack 
ice. He got them, three of them, and held them prisoner by mak- 
ing them take off their boots. It was a cactus country, through 
which no one would dare to go unshod. The nearest wagon was 
fifteen miles away, but Roosevelt went for it, leaving his assistants on 
guard over the thieves. The settler loaned it, though he swore that he 
could not understand why so much trouble was taken with thieves who 
might be hanged off hand. 

With his three prisoners in the wagon Roosevelt set out for Dick- 
inson, the nearest town. The roads were very bad and it took two 
days and a night to make the journey. His two assistants having to 
leave him, he had nobody but himself and the driver, of whom he knew 
nothing, to guard the three "bad men." 

Putting them in the wagon, he walked behind, a Winchester across 
his shoulder to use in case of need. The road was ankle deep in icy 
mud. The night passed in a frontier hut, in which the self-appointed 
guard sat wide awake all night against the cabin door and watched his 
cowed captives. Late the next day he handed over his prisoners to the 
sheriff of Dickinson. Nothing could show better the dogged deter- 
mination of Theodore Roosevelt when he had made up his mind to do a 
thing. 

Such are the current anecdotes of Roosevelt's ranch life in the 
West. But there was another side to this life, the hunting one, which 
calls for some attention. The Indians of the West at that time were 
fairly quiet, though he did have one adventure with the "noble red- 
man" in which a ready show of his rifle prevented something worse. 
But there was big game in abundance, the grizzly bear, the elk, the 
mountain sheep, the deer and antelope, and even the bison, which as 
yet had not been quite exterminated. 

Of the several tales of his hunting life much the most thrilling is 
that of an encounter he had with a grizzly, at a time when he was hunt- 
ing alone in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. Having made his 



4- 



AMONG THE COWBOYS AND IN THE HUNTING FIELD 



camp by the side of a crystal brook he strolled out to see if he could get 
a grouse for supper. To his surprise he encountered instead a giant 
grizzly. He fired at and wounded the animal, which took refuge in a 
laurel thicket. Night was at hand and the hunter peered into the 
thicket, eager for a second shot. While he did so the bear came sud- 
denly out. "Scarlet strings of froth hung from his lips; his eyes 
burned like embers in the gloom." 

Roosevelt fired again, the bullet, as it afterwards proved, shatter- 
ing the point of the grizzly's heart. We must let the hunter himself 
tell the remainder of this story: 

"Instantly the great bear turned with a harsh roar of fury and 
challenge, blowing the bloody foam from his mouth, so that I saw the 
gleam of his white fangs; and then he charged straight at me, crash- 
ing and bounding through the laurel bushes, so that it was hard to aim. 
I waited until he came to a fallen tree, raking him as he topped it with 
a ball that entered his chest and most through the cavity of his body, 
but he neither swerved nor flinched and at the moment I did not know 
that I had struck him. 

"He came steadily on and in another second was almost upon me. 
I fired for his forehead, but my bullet went low, entering his open 
mouth, smashing his lower jaw, and going into his neck. I leaped to 
one side almost as I pulled the trigger, and through the hanging 
smoke the first thing I saw was his paw as he made a vicious side 
blow at me. The rush of his charge carried him past. As he struck, 
he lurched forward, leaving a pool of bright blood where his muzzle 
hit the ground; but he recovered himself and made one or two jumps 
onwards, while I hurriedly jammed a couple of cartridges into the 
magazine — my rifle holding only four, all of which I had fired. Then 
he tried to pull up, but as he did so his muscles seemed suddentl'y to 
give way, his head drooped, and he rolled over and over like a shot 
rabbit. Each of my first three bullets had inflicted a mortal wound/' 

The skin and head of this monarch of the Rockies are still among 
Mr. Roosevelt's cherished treasures. 

Not so thrilling, yet in a sense more unpleasant, was his shooting 
of a "silver-tip" bear cub, which he hastened to pick up, knowing what 
it meant if Madame Bruin should happen that way and find her cub 



AMONG THE COWBOYS AND IN THE HUNTING FIELD 



43 



meddled with. Making a wild grab, for a quick get-away, he found 
his hand impaled upon a hundred porcupine quills. That was the 
kind of cub he had brought down. It is probable that he laughed at 
this in after years, but he was in no laughing humor just then. 

We have not space to tell of his hunting the prong-horn antelope, 
the black-tail mountain deer, the stately elk of the hills, the jig-horn, 
cliff-haunting sheep, the mountain goat, and the many smaller crea- 
tures of the wilds. It must suffice to say that our daring hunter had 
many exciting, though not dangerous, adventures in search of these, 
winning many trophies of his skill, and left the West with the double 
reputation of being an able rancher and a daring hunter. 



CHAPTER V 

Fighting the Spoils Hunters and Rascals 

THE years of Roosevelt's early political life were those of the 
origin of legalized Civil Service Reform in the United States. 
It is generally recognized that the assassination of President 
Garfield was a direct outcome of the moss-grown spoils system that 
had so long prevailed. This dire event hastened the reform, and in 
1883 a Civil Service Act was passed which provided for a board of 
commissioners and for the appointment to office by examination of 
candidates. The power of appointment was in a measure taken out of 
the President's hands, the law giving the first chance for an office to 
those who best stood the test of examination. 

President Harrison, after taking his seat in 1889, appointed the 
dauntless young New York reformer on the Civil Service Commission, 
and made him chairman of that body. The President had good reason 
for this act. In 1884 Roosevelt had succeeded in securing the passage 
of a Civil Service Reform law for New York, and his work in this 
direction had made him the logical head of the difficult Federal reform. 

No better selection could have been made. Roosevelt was a man 
capable of a vast amount of work, and saw that in this new field there 
was a call for his utmost energy. The law had been widely evaded or 
ignored, the spoils system was fighting hard for its control of the 
perquisites, and only a fighter ready to hit square from the shoulder 
was fitted to enter the contest. 

The law had its loopholes, as all such laws are almost sure to have, 
and its enemies took the utmost advantage of this. The new head of 
the commission saw that he had heroic work before him, and that he 
would have bitter opposition to meet both in and out of Congress. 
But no condition of that kind ever stopped Theodore Roosevelt. While 
it may not be fair to say that he dearly loved a fight, no one can say 
that the prospect of a fight ever had any terror for him. For six years 

(44) 



FIGHTING THE SPOILS HUNTERS AND RASCALS 45 

he filled the office, for, after President Harrison's term ended, Presi- 
dent Cleveland, who recognized his ability, courage and sterling 
integrity, continued him in it. 

It was a work he liked. With the conviction that the spoils- 
monger and the bribe-giver were equally bad, he assailed them both 
without favor or mercy, "ousting the rascals" and enforcing the law 
as it had never been enforced before. He was a Republican from the 
North. Two members of the commission were from the South, — 
Democrats, who had served in the Confederate Army, — but in all the 
dealings of the commission there was no instance in which the politics 
of any person was considered in any case that came before them. 

. When one day a paragraph got into the papers to the effect that 
only Republicans need, try to enter the government service during a 
Republican administration, Roosevelt was quick in taking up the 
challenge. 

"This," he said, "is an institution not for Republicans and not for 
Democrats, but for the whole American people. It belongs to them 
and will be administered, as long as I stay here, in their interest with- 
out discrimination." 

And to prove his words he asked the representatives of the South- 
ern papers in Washington to publish in their papers that the young 
men of the South have not been seeking their proper share of positions 
under the government, and that if they chose to come forward they 
would be given an equal opportunity with everyone else, regardless of 
their political opinions. 

They did come forward, plenty of them. The examinations on 
the Southern route began to swarm with bright young fellows, and 
the word of Roosevelt was quickly proved, that not party, but merit, 
ruled in appointments to office. 

Commissioner Roosevelt opened himself to much criticism and 
faced many opponents, — but he has ever since been doing the same 
thing and with much the same effect. Criticism and opposition have 
never deterred him from doing the thing which he deemed right. 
Once the opponents of the merit system sought to tie the hands of the 
Commission by refusing to give it an adequate sum of money for its 
work. Roosevelt met them half-way. Sending for the list of exam- 



4 6 FIGHTING THE SPOILS HUNTERS AND RASCALS 

ination routes, he revised it, cutting out the districts represented by the 
men who had voted against the grant. He explained through the 
newspapers that, since some districts must be sacrificed through lack 
of money, it was only just that those members who had voted against 
the necessary appropriation should be the ones to lose its benefit. 
There was talk of "impeachment/' "removal," etc., but nothing was 
done, and the Commission got its money after that. 

Before the Roosevelt period the Commission did its work in 
secret. But secrecy is alien to the Roosevelt instincts. The new 
Commissioner was a man who liked to be in the open air and did not 
fancy hiding his arts behind a veil. Hence, upon his entrance into the 
Civil Service Commission, its doors, for the first time in its existence, 
were thrown open to all comers. No one could say now, as had been 
said before, that there was any mystery connected with its workings. 
Afterwards, if any member of Congress showed himself ignorant of 
the conditions of the merit system, he would be cordially invited by 
the next mail to explore the whole work of the Commission to his 
heart's content. The newspaper correspondents were made welcome, 
and furnished with any information that could properly be given out. 

During Roosevelt's six years on the Commission things were 
done. Of course we cannot give him the credit for all these things. 
He was not the Commission, but only one of its members. But another 
member, Mr. John H. Procter, has said this about his activity. 

"Every day I went to the office as to an entertainment. I knew 
something was sure to turn up to make it worth my while, with him 
there. When he went away, I had heart in it no longer." 

And President Cleveland wrote this to Roosevelt when he regret- 
fully accepted his resignation to engage in a new line of work : 

"You are certainly to be congratulated upon the extent and per- 
manence of Civil Service Reform methods which you have so substan- 
tially aided in bringing about." 

What had taken place may be expressed in figures as follows: 
When he entered the Commission there were 14,000 officers under 
Civil Service rules. When he left there were 40,000. And the work 
had been put on a solid foundation which has never since given way. 
The spoils system has largely passed away ; the merit system has taken 
its place. 



FIGHTING THE SPOILS HUNTERS AND RASCALS 47 

The cause of his leaving the Commission was a summons from his 
native city, which wanted him for President of its Board of Police 
Commissioners. This strongly appealed to him. It was bringing him 
back upon his old battlefield. It was a field which he knew inch by 
inch. And it was one in which there was strenuous work to be done. 
The rottenness of party politics had deeply invaded this department 
and it sadly needed an earthquake shaking up. He went into it with 
the earnest vim with which he was soon after to go into the Spanish 
War. 

"I thought the storm center was in New York," he said, "and so 
I came there. It is a great piece of practical work. I like to take 
hold of work that has been done by a Tammany leader and do it as well, 
only by approaching it from the opposite direction. The thing that 
attracted me to it was that it was to be done in the hurly-burly, for I 
don't like cloister life." 

A reform administration, that of Mayor Strong, was then in 
power, and soldiers of reform were needed to lead the ranks. The 
new Commissioner stirred up the town. The regulation reformers 
did not know whether to applaud or curse. Many declared that his 
rigid enforcement of the Excise law enabled Tammany to return to 
power by capturing the votes of liquor men who had temporarily joined 
the reformers. In reply Roosevelt said he had sworn to enforce all 
the laws and he would not compromise his conscience. Besides, he 
held that the best way to get a bad law repealed was to rigidly enforce 
it. The "Arabian Nights" features of Mr. Roosevelt's police adminis- 
tration, his sudden appearance in unexpected places, his unheralded 
personal tours of inspection about the city after dark, catching many a 
policeman napping — all this and several volumes more are a part of 
history. Roosevelt made fame and friends during his police regime, 
and all classes admitted that he was an honest man. He said once, 
at the close of a meeting, that he believed a majority of policemen were 
good men. He believed in giving every applicant a chance to show 
what he could do and treating him honestly and fairly, regardless of 
his nationality, politics, religion or "pull." 

"We have every country represented on the police force," he said. 
"Hebrews working harmoniously with Irishmen; Germans making 



48 FIGHTING THE SPOILS HUNTERS AND RASCALS 

good records with Spaniards — in fact, every nationality is represented 
almost but the Chinese, and I find the men as a class willing to give 
faithful service. When men find the official in charge of them consis- 
tent, always keeping his word to the letter, they will soon begin follow- 
ing the example set before them. Treat a man squarely and you will 
get square treatment in return. That is human nature and sound 
doctrine, whether in the police or in any other department." 

Being an honest man and determined to do his duty fearlessly 
and without favor, Mr. Roosevelt was not caught in the many traps 
set for him. All attempts to ensnare him were failures and soon 
appeared so ridiculous that he became the best "let alone" official in 
the city government. 

Jacob Riis says that "Jobs innumerable were put up to discredit 
the President of the Board and inveigle him into awkward positions. 
Probably he never knew of one-tenth of them. Mr. Roosevelt walked 
through them with perfect unconcern, kicking aside the snares that 
were set so elaborately to catch him. The politicians who saw him 
walk apparently blindly into a trap and beheld him emerge with dam- 
age to the trap only, could not understand it. They concluded it was 
his luck. It was not. It was his sense. He told me once after such 
a time that it was a matter of conviction with him that no frank and 
honest man could be in the long run entangled by the snares of 
plotters, whatever appearances might for the moment indicate. So 
he walked unharmed in it all." 

But the new Police President had no path of roses to walk in. 
Corruption was deeply planted and it was not easy to uproot it. The 
system of blackmail by police and officials was hard to overcome. It 
was the enforcement of the Sunday liquor law, in particular, that gave 
trouble to the Commission. There were plenty of arrests, indeed, for 
its violation, but these were of people who had no political pull or 
refused to pay the police for shut eyes. This system of blackmail 
existed in the case of all illegal pursuits, which could be carried on 
unseen by the police if the necessary money were forthcoming, but to 
which refusal to pay brought sudden retribution. 

Dishonesty at elections was another of the prevailing forms of 
vice. Honesty at the ballot box had almost ceased to exist, and it 



FIGHTING THE SPOILS HUNTERS AND RASCALS 49 

needed strenuous labor on the part of the Commission to overcome 
this, as in the case of various other vicious practices. 

All we can say here is that during the two years of Mr. Roosevelt's 
presidency the Police Commission did much toward clearing the atmos- 
phere. The number of arrests and convictions for misdemeanor 
largely increased, the citizens had better protection than they had had 
for years, and the reign of corruption largely ceased. Mr. Roosevelt 
had the faculty for organization strongly developed. Honor and 
reward came to the men who did their duty, discredit or dismissal to 
those who shirked it. A police force should be a military force, and 
this is what Roosevelt made of the men under him. He was not the 
chief of police, but when he came into police headquarters, his quick 
nervous stride and alert eyes affected every policeman in sight as 
though he had felt an electric shock. There was an involuntary 
straightening up, both physical and mental. Disorder and bad admin- 
istration prevailed before he entered the Board. When he left it New 
York had an admirably trained and effective military force of blue- 
coated public protectors, men who had won the esteem of respectable 
citizens and whose honesty was beyond question. 

There is a story of his dealing with strikers who had trouble with 
the police which reminds us of that of the Western sheriff. It is thus 
told by Jacob Riis : 

"Roosevelt saw that the trouble was in their not understanding 
one another, and he asked the labor leaders to meet him at Clarendon 
Hall to talk it over. Together we trudged through a blinding snow- 
storm to the meeting. This was at the beginning of things, when the 
town had not yet got the bearings of the man. The strike leaders 
thought they had to do with an ambitious politician and they tried 
bluster. They would do so and so unless the police were compliant; 
and they watched to get him placed. They had not long to wait. 
Roosevelt called a halt, short and sharp. 

" 'Gentlemen,' he said, 'we want to understand one another. That 
was my object in coming here. Remember, please, that he who 
counsels violence does the cause of labor the poorest service. Also, he 
loses his case. Understand distinctly that order will be kept. The 
police will keep it. Now, gentlemen !' 



5 o FIGHTING THE SPOILS HUNTERS AND RASCALS 

"There was a moment's amazed suspense, and then the hall rang 
with their cheers. They had him placed then, for they knew a man 
when they saw him. And he — he went home proud and happy, for 
his trust in his fellow-man was justified." 



CHAPTER VI 

Naval Secretary and Rough Rider 

IN 1897 the scent of war was in the air. The barbarities of Spanish 
rule in Cuba were becoming too Vagrant for our country to long 

endure, and it was growing evident to many that the United 
States might soon have to take a hand in the game. It was at this 
interval of growing indignation at Spanish methods that another 
President found occasion to avail himself of Mr. Roosevelt's services. 
His efficiency in the police service of New York had become the talk 
of the country, and President McKinley found it desirable to offer him 
the post of Assistant Secretary of the Navy, feeling sure that he was 
the man for the place. 

The new American navy was then in the making, and needed a 
man of energetic character and efficient methods to give it the shaking 
up it needed in the event of a war. It was important to make it ready 
for any emergency, and Roosevelt was amply fitted for the work. 
While occupying the minor post of assistant, his hand was soon felt 
in ever}'- detail of naval affairs, and for a time he was virtually at the 
head of the department. 

The most important work he did was to collect ammunition and 
to insist on the naval gunners being well practiced in marksmanship. 
He was not long in his new post before he felt sure that war was 
coming and that it was his duty to see that the ships were prepared for 
it. Another thing he did was to fill every foreign coaling station with 
an ample supply of fuel. It was this that enabled Dewey to make his 
prompt movement from Hongkong to Manila. We have testimony 
to his acuteness in the words of Senator Cushman K. Davis, then head 
of the Committee on Foreign Relations : 

"If it had not been for Roosevelt Dewey would not have been 
able to strike the blow that he dealt at Manila. Roosevelt's fore- 
thought, energy and promptness made it possible." 

(5i> 



52 NAVAL SECRETARY AND ROUGH RIDER 

What Roosevelt did was to visit the various naval reserves 
throughout the country, inspecting and inquiring into conditions and 
actively pushing repairs upon the ships. As for the practice of the 
men at the guns, there is afloat an anecdote that shows in picturesque 
outline the work of the Assistant Secretary in this direction. 

Not long after his appointment he asked Congress for an appro- 
priation of $800,000 for ammunition. The appropriation was made, 
but, to the surprise of the lawmakers, before many months had passed 
he asked for a second appropriation for the same purpose, this time 
demanding $500,000. 

"What has become of the other appropriation?" he was asked. 

"Every cent of it has been spent for powder and shot, and every 
ounce of powder and shot has been fired away," he replied. 

"And what do you propose to do with the $500,000 you now want?" 

"I will use every dollar of that, too, within the next thirty days in 
practice shooting." 

It was costly practice, but it paid, as was soon to be shown by the 
effectiveness of American gunnery at Manila and Santiago. 

Another thing done by Roosevelt in the same direction was to 
help in passing the personnel bill, which did away with the standing 
cause of bitter feeling between the officers of the line and staff. 

"It is useless," he said, "to spend millions of dollars in the build- 
ing of perfect fighting machines unless we make the personnel which 
is to handle these machines equally perfect." 

The time was soon to come when his work would tell. In Feb- 
ruary, 1898, occurred that criminal disaster which blew up the battle- 
ship "Maine," with all her crew, in Havana harbor. Diplomacy was 
called in to settle this, if possible, but Roosevelt, like most of his coun- 
trymen, felt sure that war would follow, and he redoubled his efforts 
to put the navy into first-rate fighting trim. 

We have told how Roosevelt helped Dewey when the war broke 
out. That was not all. It was due to him that Dewey was on the 
ground at the time. When a man was wanted to command in the 
East, Roosevelt selected Dewey, and stuck to his choice in spite of 
those who said that the Commodore was only a well-dressed dude. 
"It does not matter what kind of clothes and collars he wears," said 



NAVAL SECRETARY AND ROUGH RIDER 53 

Roosevelt, "the man will fight. He is the man for the place. He has 
a lion heart." 

He not only kept Dewey in Chinese waters, but held his fleet 
together. The "Olympia" was ordered home, but Roosevelt secured 
the repeal of the order. "Keep the 'Olympia,' " he cabled him, "and 
keep full of coal." 

He saw clearly what was in the air. And when the day for 
fighting came the blood throbbed strongly in his veins. "There's 
nothing more for me to do here," he said. "I've got to get into the 
fight myself. I have done all I could to bring on the war, because it 
is a just war. Now that it has come I have no business to ask others 
to do the fighting and stay at home myself." 

The fact is, chains could not have kept him at home. There was 
in him too much of the berserker strain for that. He had been fighting 
all his life. Whether in the legislature, on the ranch, in the hunting 
field, in the police service ; it was not in him to lose the chance to feel 
the blood-boiling sensation of the battlefield. 

It was a happy idea of his that suggested the Rough Rider regi- 
ment. The name "Roosevelt's Rough Riders" struck the popular 
fancy, and helped greatly to make Roosevelt's name a household word. 
Before the regiment was organized it had become famous. The taking 
title, "Roosevelt's Rough Riders," was on every one's tongue. 

Never before had such a body of athletes and daredevils been got 
together. Only America could have furnished them. The cowboy, 
the Indian trailer, the hunter, the Indian himself, the pick of the West, 
formed the bulk of the regiment, but with them were mingled the 
athletes of the East, the college football player, the oarsman, the polo 
champion, the trained policeman, even the wealthy society man of 
athletic training. The one pity is that they were not able to show 
their prowess as horsemen, for such a body of cavalry as they would 
have made the world has rarely seen. 

They were out of their native element afoot, and their humorous 
title for themselves, "Wood's Weary Walkers," after their long 
marches in the Cuban jungle, had more truth than poetry in it. 

Roosevelt had been for four years a member of the Eighth Regi- 
ment of the New York State National Guard, and had risen to the 



54 NAVAL SECRETARY AND ROUGH RIDER 

grade of captain in its ranks. He might have been the colonel of the 
new regiment if he had chosen, but he felt that in actual war a man 
who had seen service in the field was needed, and he selected his friend, 
Colonel Leonard Wood, of the Regular Army, to command, contenting 
himself with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 

How to get to Cuba was the first important question that arose. 
Of the enlisted men only a small proportion could go on the projected 
expedition to Santiago. Mounted men were debarred and the horses 
had to be left behind, one squadron remaining to take care of them. 
The Rough Riders were among the last of the regiments that received 
permission to go, and might have been left behind but for "Teddy" 
Roosevelt's insistence. Then, when orders came to move to Tampa, 
transportation was refused. In his usual mode of cutting the Gordian 
knot, he seized a train, jumped aboard the engine, and demanded that 
it should move. The train moved. 

Port reached, he did not wait for an official assignment to a 
transport, but put his men without hesitation on board the nearest 
vessel. Much the same thing happened when the landing place in 
Cuba was reached. Following the same bold tactics, he did not wait 
for orders to land his men, but got them ashore among the first, and 
on the night of the landing began to march to the front. He even 
passed General Lawton, who was holding the advance guard position 
under orders from General Shafter. 

In all these active movements we hear the name of Lieutenant- 
Colonel Roosevelt, not that of Colonel Wood. The two men, however, 
were of much the same calibre and were intimate friends. They 
worked together as one man. Later on Colonel Wood was promoted 
to the rank of general and his subordinate took the post of colonel. 
Throughout he was identified with the Rough Riders and they with 
him. 

Readers of the war know what followed, how the regiment passed 
the advance outpost — without orders, it is said — and at daylight the 
next morning encountered the Spaniards at Las Guasimas and began 
the first fight of the short war. When General Shafter received the 
news of this fight he was not pleased, for he was told that the Amer- 
icans had been cut to pieces. He swore roundly and declared that he 



NAVAL SECRETARY AND ROUGH RIDER 55 

"would bring that damned cowboy regiment so far in the rear that it 
would not get another chance." But when later on news of the cowboy 
victory reached him he wrote a flattering letter to Lieutenant-Colonel 
Roosevelt, in command, congratulating him on the brilliant success 
of his attack. 

Roosevelt and his men were not to be kept back. They fairly 
struggled to the front. On July i st a correspondent saw them moving 
in columns of twos through a densely wooded roadway leading to the 
"Bloody Angle," and while his men were falling wounded around him 
Roosevelt answered the correspondent's "Hello, there!" with a wave 
of his hand and an exclamation that showed that his heart was in the 
fight. 

Up San Juan Hill they went, Roosevelt leading the charge, the 
Spaniards, from their intrenchments at the top, pouring down a thick 
hail of shells and Mauser bullets. This is the way the charge was 
described in press despatches from the field : 

"Roosevelt was in the lead waving his sword. Out into the open 
and up the hill where death seemed certain, in the face of the con- 
tinous crackle of the Mausers, came the Rough Riders, with the 
Tenth Cavalry alongside. Not a man flinched, all continuing to fire 
as they ran. Roosevelt was a hundred feet ahead of his troops, yelling 
like a Sioux, while his own' men and the colored cavalry cheered him 
as they charged up the hill. ■ There was no stopping as a man's neigh- 
bor fell, but on they went faster and faster. Suddenly Roosevelt's 
horse stopped, pawed the air for a moment, and fell in a heap. Before 
the horse was down Roosevelt disengaged himself from the saddle and; 
landing on his feet, again yelled to his men, and, sword in hand, 
charged on afoot. 

"It seemed an age to the men who were watching, and to the 
Rough Riders the hill must have seemed miles high. But they were 
undaunted. They went on, firing as fast as their guns would work. 
At last the top of the hill was reached. The Spaniards in the trenches 
could still have annihilated the Americans, but the Yankees' daring 
dazed them. They wavered for an instant and then turned and ran. 
The position was won and the blockhouse captured. In the rush more 
than half of the Rough Riders were wounded." 



56 NAVAL SECRETARY AND ROUGH RIDER 

Let us go on to another incident a month or more later. The war 
was ended. That charge up San Juan Hill had practically ended it. 
During this month the victorious army had been kept in Cuba, doing 
nothing and suffering from a malarial attack that had put more than 
4,000 of the men on the sick list. If an attack of yellow fever, indig- 
enous to that climate, had broken out among the weakened troops, it 
would have proved ten times more fatal than the Spanish bullets. 

Colonel Roosevelt — he was a colonel then — chafed and fretted. 
Doing nothing did not agree with his constitution. He broke out at 
length in the famous "round robin," which he wrote and his fellow 
officers signed, protesting against keeping the army longer in Cuba, 
exposed to the perils of that pestilential climate. People shook their 
heads when they heard of this and talked of precedents. They did not 
recognize that he was a man to break and make precedents. 

Whatever their opinion, the "round robin," and letter which he 
wrote to General Shafter, making a powerful presentation of the perils 
of the army, had the intended effect. The men were recalled and 
shook the malarial dust of Cuba from their feet. With that event 
closed the war experience of Colonel Roosevelt and his Rough Rider 
regiment. 



CHAPTER VII 

Governor and Vice-President 

THE end of the brief but effective Cuban war left Colonel Roose- 
velt the popular hero of that event. Every war has its popular 
hero, and the dramatic picturesqueness of the cowboy regi- 
ment, with its telling title, the "Rough Riders," was sure to strike the 
public fancy. The newspaper stories of their spectacled colonel dash- 
ing at their head up San Juan Hill, yelling with the loudest and as 
fearless as the best, added to the completeness of the picture in the 
public mind, and Roosevelt was lifted upon a pedestal of public appre- 
ciation on which he dwarfed every other soldier who took part in the 
affair, as Dewey similarly figured as the chief naval hero. 

That a man of such sudden and great popularity would be allowed 
to sink back into insignificance was very unlikely to follow. The 
American people likes to reward its heroes, the canvass for a new 
governor of New York was in the air, and Theodore Roosevelt was 
the man of the moment. His services in the war had scarcely ended 
before the nomination came. 

The Citizens' Union was the first to nominate him, but he declined 
the compliment, saying that he was a Republican. He proposed to 
stand by his colors. The Democrats, who dreaded him as a popular 
candidate, hoped to prevent his nomination by trying to prove that he 
had lost his legal residence in the State. Their plan failed, and the 
Republican Convention chose him as its candidate by a vote of 752 to 
218 for Governor Black. Van Wyck was the Democratic nominee. 
Their candidate, Parker, had been elected Judge of the Court of 
Appeals the year before by 61,000 majority and on this the party based 
its hopes, though feeling that the personal popularity of Colonel Roose- 
velt was an element in the situation that might override all party lines 
and claims. It did so, for he carried the election by a majority of 
18,000 over Van Wyck. 

(57) 



5 8 GOVERNOR AND VICE-PRESIDENT 

He took a personal part in his own campaign. It is not the 
Roosevelt way to be silent and wait while events are in the air. Out- 
spoken advocacy of everything in which he is interested is his way, 
and he took the stump in his own cause, speaking in many parts of the 
State. That these speeches were characterized by fire, force and direct- 
ness we need not say. They had also that common sense and practi- 
cal application to the situation which are among his characteristics. 

As in his legislative career, corrupt politics were handled by him 
with indignant sarcasm, while the wrongs the people heaped upon 
themselves by not asserting their right to be well and honestly gov- 
erned strongly engaged his attention. 

The stand he took in the campaign was not the most pleasant one 
to the professional politicians. They felt that as Governor this man 
would make the feathers of corrupt methods fly. They had reason 
for their feeling, for when seated in the Governor's chair it quickly 
became clear that the reign of jobbery for the time was at an end, so 
far as it came under executive control. 

Hasty in action as he had often shown himself, his impetuous 
disposition was now held in by a wise caution and deliberation. In 
selecting the heads of the important State departments he moved with 
especial care, and when announced the appointments were everywhere 
greeted as wise and appropriate. Francis Hendricks, put at the head 
of the Insurance Department, made this department an honor to the 
State, and the same may be said of the work of Colonel John N. 
Partridge, appointed Superintendent of Public Works. Roosevelt was 
not now charging with a yell of martial defiance up San Juan Hill. 
He was cautiously providing for the best interests of a State. 

For a just criticism of what he did in the Governor's chair we 
quote frofn Dr. Albert Shaw, the clear-headed editor of the "Review 
of Reviews." He thus characterized the Roosevelt administration : 

"He found the state administration thoroughly political; he left 
it business-like and efficient. He kept thrice over every promise that 
he made to the people in his canvass. Mr. Roosevelt so elevated and 
improved the whole tone of the state administration and so effectually 
educated his party and public opinion generally, that future governors 
will find easy what was before almost impossible." 



GOVERNOR AND VICE.PRESIDENT 59 

We must deal briefly with the story of his administration. He 
was hardly seated in the Capitol at Albany when he had a consultation 
with a body of labor leaders, for whom he had sent. Labor laws were 
not wanting on the statute books, designed to benefit the laborer ; but 
half of these were dead letters, and some of them had always been 
valueless. 

"These laws are your special concern," said the Governor to his 
visitors. "I want you to look over them with me and see if they are 
fair, and, if they are, that they be fairly enforced. We will have no 
dead-letter laws. If there is anything wrong you know of, I want you 
to tell me of it. If we need more legislation we will go to the legisla- 
ture and ask for it. If we have enough, we will see to it that the laws 
we have are carried out and the most made of them." 

And this was done, so far as he was able to do it. There arose a 
question about the factory law, which it was claimed was not properly 
enforced. The sweatshops were a disease hard to cure. To satisfy 
himself as to the actual conditions the Governor came down from 
Albany and went through a group of the worst type of tenement houses 
himself. He saw much to disapprove of. 

"There is improvement," he said to the factory inspector, "but not 
enough. I do not think you quite understand what I mean by enforcing 
a law. I don't want to make it as easy as possible for the manufacturer. 
Make the owners of tenements understand that old, badly built, 
uncleanly houses shall not be used for manufacturing in any shape. 
Put the bad tenement at a disadvantage as against the well-constructed 
and well-kept house, and make the house owner as well as the manu- 
facturer understand it." 

The result of this personal inspection was the Tenement House 
Improvement Bill, the need of which he made the legislators see, and 
the effect of which was all on the side of sanitation and fair play. Its 
effect was to check the doings of the slum landlord. 

Democratic orators had predicted that Governor Roosevelt would 
be "too impetuous." He was impetuous by nature, he acknowledged 
that, but he thought he had schooled himself in this particular. Yet 
on the final day of the legislative session of 1899 ms impetuous spirit 
blazed out, though in a way that few found amiss. He declared 



6o GOVERNOR AND VICE-PRESIDENT 

positively that the Franchise Act, which efforts had been made to 
shelve, ought to be passed — and it was passed. The members of the 
legislature knew that the Governor had voiced public opinion in what 
he said to them, and they did not venture to defeat the measure. 

Another "impetuous" act was the removal from office of Asa B. 
Gardiner, District Attorney of the County of New York, on the charge 
that he had given aid and comfort to Chief of Police Devery, after that 
officer had him indicted for issuing a seditious order to the police force 
regarding violence at the polls. 

Other measures urgently advocated by him were bills to prevent 
the adulteration of food products and fertilizers, to protect game, and 
especially to aid the efficient administration of the state canals and the 
extension of civil service regulations. He further saved the treasury 
of New York City from heavy legalized looting by his unyielding 
opposition to the notorious Ramapo job. 

As Governor he had to do with many momentous questions, and 
he dealt with them all from a lofty standpoint of duty. Many times 
he went opposite to the wishes of his party, but in each case his action 
was creditable to him. He did not escape misunderstanding and mis- 
representation. He had always opposed boss rule, yet he openly 
consulted Mr. Piatt as the leader of the party. Yet with all such con- 
sultation he lived up to his own convictions. That- man would have 
had a hardy frame of mind who sought to press any scheme of corrupt 
politics upon him. 

For two years he occupied the Governor's chair. During the first 
year little was done in the way of reform. The utmost he could do 
was to see that no bad laws were enacted. During the second year 
he got a firmer hold and much beneficial legislation was obtained. 

His work was not yet done. There were some reforms which he 
desired earnestly to see accomplished before he left the Governor's 
chair, reforms which he viewed as essential to the well-being of the 
state. Therefore, when in 1900 his name was mentioned as a candi- 
date for the Vice-Presidency, the suggestion was distasteful to him. 
His work at Albany was not finished. 

An interesting convention was that held by the Republicans at 
Philadelphia in 1900, for the nomination of candidates for the Presi- 



GOVERNOR AND VICE-PRESIDENT 61 

dency and Vice-Presidency. In regard to the former there was no 
doubt William McKinley was the man ; no other was thought of. For 
Vice-President Theodore Roosevelt's name was early set afloat, much 
to his discomfort. He had proposed to be a candidate again for Gov- 
ernor of New York. There was live work to be done. To sit as the 
voiceless Chairman of the Senate was very distasteful to a man of his 
temperament. 

There was opposition to him. Senator Hanna was strongly 
opposed. The man who most wanted to make him Vice-President was 
Senator Depew, of New York — not from any desire to do him honor, 
but to get rid of him in state affairs. 

The nomination was made somewhat in this way. When Presi- 
dent McKinley was nominated and the thunder of the cheering had 
died away, Governor Roosevelt rose to second the nomination. His 
speech was a strong one. He had a speech in his hand, type-written, 
but this he did not once look at, and probably did not follow, speaking 
the thoughts that rose in his mind and speaking them powerfully 
and well. 

What he had to say evidently hit the mark, for the members of 
the convention at once hailed him as Vice-President, shouting for 
McKinley and Roosevelt. At this Senator Depew, seeing his oppor- 
tunity, drawled out, "In the East we call him Teddy." At this the 
shouting grew roof-lifting; "Teddy Roosevelt! Teddy Roosevelt!" 

Depew was achieving his scheme to "shelve" Roosevelt. When 
the latter's name was formally presented to the convention calls for a 
vote rose on every side, and the taking of it quickly began. It ended 
as it only could end under such circumstances. McKinley and Roose- 
velt were the men of 1900. 

Never had a man been nominated for the Vice-Presidency more 
against his will. He did not want the ofhce, and he fully understood 
the purpose of those who were pressing him into it. For a time he 
strongly resisted persuasions to get him to accept, and when he did 
yield it was sorely against his will. Neither he nor those who sought 
to shelve him dreamed for a moment of the coming result, that Vice- 
President Roosevelt would never preside over a session of the Senate, 
but before the year ended would fill the President's chair. 



62 GOVERNOR AND VICE-PRESIDENT 

He made the campaign, however, vigorously and effectively. He 
was tireless and indefatigable, traveling during it no less than twenty- 
two thousand miles, making six hundred and seventy-three addresses, 
speaking to three and a half millions of people. The feat was unpre- 
cedented, and it made him known to the people to a remarkable extent. 
He was highly popular before; he was doubly popular when this 
remarkable campaign ended. When the day of election came the popu- 
larity of the candidates was shown in a plurality of 850,000 votes and 
an electoral majority of 137. On the 4th of March, 1901, he took the 
oath of office and became Vice-President of the United States. 



CHAPTER VIII 

In the Presidential Chair 

ON the 6th of September, 1901, a lamentable act took place, one 
of those tragic occurrences that are apt to arise from the mad 
ferment of modern life. President McKinley, while shaking 
hands in friendly spirit with his fellow-citizens in the great hall of 
the Buffalo Exposition, was foully shot down by a half-insane An- 
archist, whose hand the victim had just cordially grasped. 

For a week the suffering martyr lay between life and death, for 
a time showing such signs of recovery that hope overspread the 
country, then rapidly sinking until death came to him in the early 
morning of the 14th. His sad passing away left Theodore Roosevelt 
President, a consummation no one had dreamed of when, against his 
will, he was induced to become a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. 

The death of McKinley was followed by an event of dramatic 
interest. For a time the recovery of the stricken President seemed so 
assured that Roosevelt felt secure in making a hunting excursion in 
the Adirondacks, for which he had previously arranged. 

When, on Friday, September 13th, word reached the Tahawas 
Club House, where the Vice-President had his headquarters, that the 
exalted victim was fast sinking, Roosevelt was not to be found. He 
had set out early that morning for a tramp in the mountains, and no 
one knew just where he was. Before starting he had received a 
despatch from Buffalo saying that the President was in splendid condi- 
tion and not in the slightest danger. Under these circumstances he 
had felt it safe to venture upon his mountain stroll. 

The fresh and startling news caused guides and runners to be 
sent out in all directions, with orders to sound a general alarm and find 
the Vice-President as quickly as possible. Yet hours passed away and 
the afternoon was verging into early evening before the signals of the 
searchers were heard and answered and it became evident that the 
Roosevelt party was near at hand. 

(63) 



6 4 IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR 

When Colonel Roosevelt was reached and the news of the critical 
condition of the President told him he could scarcely credit it. Startled 
and alarmed, he hurried' back to the Tahawas Club House, feeling that 
he must hasten to Buffalo with the utmost despatch. But the nearest 
railroad station was thirty-five miles distant, and this distance had to 
be covered by stage, over a road rendered heavy by a recent thunder- 
storm. 

When he reached there the Adirondack Stage Line had a coach 
in readiness and had provided relays of horses covering the whole 
distance. All night long the stage coach, bearing its distinguished 
passenger rolled along through the woods, the latter part of the jour- 
ney being through heavy forest timber, which rendered it one of 
actual peril. 

President McKinley had already passed away, though this news 
was not received until he reached the station at North Creek at 5.22 
on the following morning. A special train awaited him and dashed 
away the moment it received the awaited passenger. The trip that 
followed was a record-breaking one, the speed in many instances 
exceeding a mile a minute. It was 1.40 p. m. when it pulled into the 
station at Buffalo, the President, as Roosevelt now was, going to the 
house where his deceased predecessor lay. 

That afternoon he took the oath of office as President of the 
United States, the oath being administered by Judge Hazel, in the 
presence of Secretaries Root, Long', Hitchcock and Wilson, Attorney- 
General Knox and other distinguished persons. The oath taken and 
the document signed, all the preliminaries were finished, and Theodore 
Roosevelt became the legally authorized President of the United States. 

Theodore Roosevelt was the youngest man in the history of the 
country to become President of the United States; he had not yet 
completed his forty-third year. The youngest before him being Presi- 
dent Grant, who was forty-seven at the date of his first inauguration. 
The oldest was President Harrison, who took office at the age of 
sixty-eight. It was a heavy responsibility to fall on so young a man. 
How he would act in his new office was the anxious query asked by 
those who remembered the records of Presidents Tyler, Filmore and 
Johnson, who like him had begun as Vice-Presidents. President 



IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR 65 

McKinley stood for certain principles, certain promises to the people 
made in the platform of the year before. Could an impulsive man like 
Theodore Roosevelt, a man full of ideas and views of his own, be 
expected to carry out his predecessor's policy? There was a distinct 
feeling of relief in the community when he came out with a declaration 
that this was what he proposed to do. 

Yet McKinley's policy did not cover the whole range of legisla- 
tion, and the remembrance of Roosevelt's radical reform administra- 
tion in New York was not altogether agreeable to the hide-bound 
conservatives or the class of shady politicians who had axes to grind. 
They felt that a man like this in the Presidential chair might prove 
like the proverbial bull in the china shop. 

Roosevelt's last speech as Vice-President gave some indications of 
his attitude. It was given at Minneapolis on September 2d, three days 
before the tragedy at Buffalo, and gave strong indications of his 
mental attitude. Some quotations from it may not be amiss. 

"Our interests are at bottom common; in the long run we go up 
or go down together. Yet more and more it is evident that the state, 
and if necessary the nation, has got to possess the right of supervision 
and control as regards the great corporations that are its creatures; 
particularly as regards the great business combinations which derive 
a portion of their importance from the existence of some monopolistic 
tendency. The right should be exercised with caution and self- 
restraint; but it should exist, so that it may be invoked if the need 
arises." 

In these few words we have the keynote of much of Roosevelt's 
Presidential career. Throughout his nearly eight years of office he 
hammered away at the monopolies that had arisen in the land, and to 
some degree succeeded in fettering them. 

A strong advocate of America for Americans, this is what he had 
to say about the Monroe Doctrine: 

"This is the attitude we should take as regards the Monroe Doc- 
trine. There is not the least need of blustering about it. Still less 
should it be used as a pretext for our own aggrandizement at the 
expense of any other American state. But, most emphatically, we 
must make it evident that we intend on this point ever to maintain the 



66 IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR 

old American position. The Monroe Doctrine is not international law, 
but there is no necessity that it should be. All that is needful is that 
it should continue to be a cardinal feature of American policy on this 
continent. If we are wise we shall strenuously insist that under no 
pretext whatever shall there be any territorial aggrandizement upon 
American soil by any European power, and this no matter what form 
the territorial aggrandizement may take." 

These extracts serve not alone to indicate President Roosevelt's 
attitude in certain particulars ; they serve also to give some conception 
of his .oratorical manner. Fluent as he has shown himself as a speech- 
maker, he has the faculty of dealing mainly with hard facts. It is the 
same with his messages to Congress. Some of them have been so 
expanded that he seemed rather writing a book than a message. But 
his seeming wordiness came from a desire to omit no matter of national 
interest and to leave none without a comprehensive treatment. Yet 
in them all he hammers away with hard facts. Flowery language and 
inconclusive verbosity have no place in his category. 

During Roosevelt's first term in office he did little in the way of 
proposing radical legislation. He felt that his hands were tied in that 
respect by the way into which he came into the Presidency. But he 
showed his untrammeled character in a dozen other ways. Precedents 
had no sacredness for him; he was always breaking them. One 
instance was that in which he invited Booker Washington to dinner. 
The event raised a stir out of all accordance with its significance, for 
Roosevelt was not the first President to have a colored man at his 
table, and Booker Washington had shown himself a man whose 
presence at their tables would honor kings. The storm broke and the 
thunders of denunciation rolled, but they passed innocuously over 
Roosevelt's head. 

He never hesitated to step outside the lines of routine and break 
through the cobwebs of red tape. When a coal strike broke out in 
Pennsylvania and went on with such obstinacy as to threaten disaster 
to the people he stepped resolutely into the breach and by his influence 
settled the labor war. The sticklers for precedent cried out in dismay. 
No President has done such a thing before! It is a dangerous stretch 
of the executive power ! But those citizens whose fires threatened to 



IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR 67 

• 
go out in midwinter for want of coal had nothing but praise for this 
salutary interference. 

When the Republic of Colombia refused to sustain the action for 
the building of the Panama Canal and the State of Panama seceded in 
consequence and proclaimed its independence, President Roosevelt 
with what seemed unnecessary haste recognized the new republic and 
proceeded to negotiate with it instead of Colombia. His impatience 
in this instance seemed to run away with his judgment, for a little 
delay would not have stood in the way of getting what he desired. 

In November, 1906, his interest in the progress of the canal took 
him in person to Panama. Here was a flagrant violation of another 
precedent. No President before him had ever gone beyond the juris- 
diction of the flag. But Roosevelt lost no sleep in consequence ; he saw 
what he wanted to see, and the solar system suffered no disruption. 

What else did he do? During the three and a half years of his 
first administration the country owed several important executive acts 
to him. In addition to settling the anthracite coal strike and recog- 
nizing Panama, he prosecuted the Northern Securities Company for 
violating the anti-trust law; he established reciprocity with Cuba; he 
created the new Department of Commerce and Labor ; he founded the 
permanent census ; he reorganized the army ; he strengthened the navy ; 
he advocated the national irrigation act which is reclaiming vast arid 
tracts to cultivation; he submitted the Venezuela imbroglio to The 
Hague Court of Arbitration; he sent America's protest against the 
Kishenev massacre to the Czar of Russia. 

The way the latter was done was an apt illustration of the Roose- 
velt method of doing things. He well knew that if the petition was 
sent to the Czar in the usual way he would not receive it and his gov- 
ernment would probably hint that this, country had better attend to its 
own business. 

Roosevelt cut the Gordian knot in a different way. He tele- 
graphed the whole petition to the American Ambassador at St. Peters- 
burg, bidding him to lay it before the Czar and ask him if he would 
receive such a petition if it came regularly before him. The Czar 
politely replied that he would not. But in spite of diplomacy he had 
received it and read it, and in this way he learned something of what 



68 IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CHAIR 

• 

was going on in his dominions. Salutary results soon followed from the 
Roosevelt diplomacy. 

We have told some of the things for which President Roosevelt 
stood sponsor. They were not all. His activity was enormous. He 
not only stood for the best things, but he worked and fought for them, 
and in some instances stood the test of making powerful enemies in 
order to secure them. The faculty of persistence, in him was strongly 
developed. The word "strenuous," which he has bound up with his 
own name, aptly illustrates his character. His was a true example of 
the "strenuous life." There was always "something doing" in his 
neighborhood, and always will be while he breathes the breath of life. 
The Roosevelt doctrine of a "square deal," the enforcement of the laws 
and statutes of the United States, and the upholding of the dignity and 
integrity of the nation were ever the keynotes of his administration. 



CHAPTER IX 

Reformer and Peacemaker 

44^>|IT-THAR ROOSEVELT" is a familiar cowboy designation 
yJT of our late President, and it is one that well fits. All his 
life he has been "gittin' thar." Ability and impetuosity 
have carried him headlong forward from one position to another in the 
public service, his rare vacations from political labor being those of 
his ranch and hunting life in the Wild West, and of his active career 
as a soldier. These were his recreations, his intervals of holiday 
enjoyment. As for resting — the man cannot do it; it is not in him. 

He has got the posts he wanted throughout his life; and got one 
post he did not want, that of Vice-President. It is one that would 
appeal to the ambition of most of us, but it was a restful post, and 
Roosevelt was not hankering after rest. Yet by a strange dispensa- 
tion of Providence it lifted him to the very summit of an American 
political career; it made him President. 

He would not have been human if he had not felt a sense of 
triumph over those plotting politicians who had fairly forced him into 
the Vice-Presidential office, fancying in their shrewd souls that they 
had the inconvenient reformer shelved. Fate had broken the threads 
which bound down this modern Gulliver and set him free to carry his 
ideas to their highest ultimate. 

Yet that he was satisfied cannot be said. It was a bitter and 
sorrowful reflection that he had reached this high office over the slain 
body of his lamented predecessor, the loved and lovable McKinley. 
He would ten thousand times rather have spent his four years as 
voiceless chairman of the Senate than to be made President through 
the assassination of a dear and cherished friend. 

Nor was it altogether pleasant to feel that chance, not the act of 
his fellow-citizens, had lifted him to this high office. Did they want 
him? Was he not in some sense an interloper? That could only be 

(69) 



? o REFORMER AND PEACEMAKER 

told when they had the opportunity to express their real sentiment, 
and he must have looked forward with some hope and some anxiety 
to the election of 1904, to learn if the people really approved him, or 
if they merely waited their opportunity to shelve him effectually. 

If he really had any doubt in this direction, it was dispelled when 
the time came to act. The enthusiastic nomination which he received 
was enough to show that he was by all odds the first choice of the 
Republican party. And -when the vote of the people was cast it became 
evident that he was the first choice of all parties, that the magic of 
his name had swept hosts of converts from the Democratic ranks. 
This was shown by his immense plurality in the popular vote of over 
2,500,000, far the greatest that any President had ever received, and 
his large Electoral College majority of 196. Evidently the people at 
large wanted Roosevelt, and it remained for him to justify their faith 
in him. 

That we are correct in crediting him with a strong desire for 
election to the Presidency we may quote his own words to show. This 
he has said : 

"I do not believe in playing the hypocrite. Any strong man fit 
to be President would desire a nomination and re-election after his 
first term. Lincoln was President in so great a crisis that perhaps he 
neither could nor did feel any personal interest in his own re-election. 
But at present I should like to be elected President just as John Quincy 
Adams, or McKinley, or Cleveland, or John Adams, or Washington 
himself desired to be elected. It is pleasant to think that one's country- 
men think well of one. But I shall not do anything whatever to secure 
my nomination save to try to carry on the public business in such 
shape that decent citizens will believe I have shown wisdom, integrity 
and courage." 

On the 4th of March, 1905, this favorite of the American people, 
for in the highest sense he was that, was inaugurated President of the 
United States. He was now a man unhampered, except by the plat- 
form of the Convention, and that was broad enough to carry out all 
the reforms in which he felt an interest. No purpose of running for 
another term trammeled him. He had cut the bridges in that direction 
behind him by announcing positively that he had no such intention. 



REFORMER AND PEACEMAKER 71 

There were some not ready to believe him, even when in December, 
1907, he reiterated his determination not to run for a third term. It 
was not until 1908, when he absolutely refused a nomination, that all 
the people felt that he meant just what he said. 

He might justly for other reasons have declined a re-election, for 
the Presidency for him had been no bed of roses. He had worked to 
win his aims with all the strength of his strong character and was 
justified in looking forward for a period of reprieve — not exactly of 
rest, but of occupation not quite so nerve-straining. 

During this term of office the Presideii'. worked strenuously for 
the reform legislation he had at heart. 1 hat he got all he wanted 
cannot be said, for Congress was hard to handle, but he gained enough 
to make the path easier for later reformers. Chief among his victories 
over intrenched privilege was that of the Anti-Rebate Law, which 
forced the railroads to come out into the open and to desist from the 
unfair practices which they had so long maintained. Another was 
the pure food law, to save the people from being poisoned by villainous 
purveyors, and the law against the sale of unclean meats. Other acts 
sustained by him were those to protect the forest reserves and national 
parks, to enlarge the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission, 
and to prevent corporations from making contributions to election 
expenses. 

The old soldiers, especially the veterans of the Civil War, for 
whom he had a warm place in his heart, felt the benefit of his sympathy 
in the General Service Pension Act, which gave to each of them, 
whether injured or not, a liberal pension after he had reached his 
sixty-second year. In 1906 he made a speech advocating an inherit- 
ance tax, a measure of which his successor, President Taft, is strongly 
in favor. 

All this was matter which brought him under the limelight of 
the people of his country. In 1905 he brought himself under the lime- 
light of the world, when he appealed to Japan and Russia to bring to 
an end their desolating war by negotiating a treaty of peace. The 
ofTer took hold. Both parties to the conflict were glad enough to see 
this hand stretched out to them across the two great oceans, bearing the 
olive branch of peace. While Europe dallied and delayed, America 



7 2 REFORMER AMD PEACEMAKER 

had acted, and Roosevelt's suggestion bore its legitimate fruit in the 
Portsmouth Peace Treaty of September 5, 1905. 

In 1904 President Roosevelt had taken steps to have a second 
Peace Conference held at the Hague. His merits as a peacemaker 
were now sounded from end to end of the earth, and his .success was 
fully recognized in 1906, when there was awarded' to him the Nobel 
Peace Prize, annually given to the one who had done the most in bring- 
ing about peaceful relations among the nations of the earth. 

We are not attempting here more than a passing glance at Presi- 
dent Roosevelt's activities during his term of office. There is one 
more of them of which we must speak. In May, 1908, there was held 
in the White House, at his suggestion, a conference of the governors 
of all the states and territories to consider the highly important sub- 
ject of how best to conserve the natural resources of this country. 

These were disappearing at an alarming rate. The forests were 
being destroyed by wasteful methods of lumbering and by devastating 
fires. The coal supply was being wastefully handled. Ignorance and 
greed were exhausting the fisheries. The soil was being washed away 
through the removal of its natural covering and the beds of streams 
were being rilled up with it. This and other things needed wise and 
honest treatment and the conference led to the formation of a National 
Conservation Commission to take these matters in hand. 

Such were some of President Roosevelt's multitudinous activities 
and their results. Now let us say something of the man himself. If 
we come to investigate the manner of his life we can but say that there 
was never a more thorough democrat. The bane of aristocratic pride 
had never infected his blood. All men, whatever their station, were 
alike to him. He had but one criterion of respect. Is the man honest; 
is he taking his due part in the work of life? He would grasp the 
grimy hand of the. railroad engineer with much more comradeship than 
that of the pampered scion of wealth. In traveling he preferred the 
cowcatcher of the locomotive, with its sweeping outlook, to the most 
comfortable palace car seat. The word strenuous, of which he made 
so much use and which so aptly fitted him, was first made his slogan in 
his speech at the Hamilton Club of Chicago in 1899. Here is the 
sentence which contained his dogma of the "strenuous life" : 



REFORMER AND PEACEMAKER 73 

"I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the 
doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and 
strife ; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the 
man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink 
from danger, from hardships, or from bitter toil, and who out of these 
wins the splendid ultimate triumph." 

It was the kind of life that Roosevelt loved. He was strenuous 
in everything, in his executive acts, his legislative demands, his exer- 
cises and pleasures, his walks and rides. An amusing example of his 
strenuosity in this direction is that long walk in which he led a party 
of army officers through a broken country, wading streams, climbing 
and descending hills, facing all sorts of difficulties, until they were 
utterly worn out, while their leader showed no trace of weariness. 

Roosevelt, in addition to his Presidential term, had another life, 
that home life which all of us possess in some measure and which he 
thoroughly enjoyed. The society of his wife and children was more 
to him than all the stately show and empty adulation of his official 
position. His home at Oyster Bay, Long Island, is a place of great 
attraction and one which any man might well enjoy. Standing on the 
crest of a little hill and approached by a steep and winding roadway, 
part of which runs through a thick wood, it presents a picturesque 
aspect when first seen. From it appears a beautiful view in every 
direction, and especially that over the waters of the Sound. Shade 
trees of many kinds stud the lawn and a broad porch runs around three 
sides of the house, shaded in front by a luxuriant Virginia creeper. 
Within, the house is beautifully furnished, and in nearly every room 
are trophies of the hunter's life on the Western plains or mementos 
of the soldier's life on Cuban soil. President, or Governor, or Colonel, 
or Commissioner Roosevelt, or whatever we may call him, is never so 
happy as when sitting quietly at home with his wife and children. 
Home is to him the dearest place on earth, and he never suffers the 
cares that fall upon him thickly without to invade its hallowed pre- 
cincts. Here he finds his one place of rest, of that relaxation of which 
he permits himself so little. With his wife — a woman of beauty and 
charm, one able to keep pace with him in his outdoor walks — his 
daughter Alice, the child of his first wife, and his five other children, 



74 REFORMER AND PEACEMAKER 

Theodore, Kermit, Ethel, Archibald and Quentin, with all of whom 
he has held years of companionship, his home life is a delightful one. 

Here are an abundance of the books that he loves and to which 
he has found time to add a goodly number of his own writing, descrip- 
tions of outdoor and hunting life, biographies and histories, especially 
his "Winning the West," his most ambitious work, devoted to the 
history of that great section of our land. 

Such is the home and home life of that great-souled, clean-lived, 
impulsive, energetic, enthusiastic lover of his kind — the honest and 
straightforward kind — the man who for years has battled fraud and 
corruption, with none of their mire clinging to him, the man of such 
broad aspirations and success-compelling genius that he has won the 
admiration, not only of his country, but of the world. 

We have already stated how, at the end of his first term of elective 
Presidency, he refused a renomination, not for rest, for the chief object 
he then had in view was to seek the wilds of Africa, and take his part 
in the hunting of big game such as America has none to match. 



BOOK TWO 



ROOSEVELT'S INTERESTING 
JOURNEY 

Through the Heart of Africa 



<75) 



CHAPTER X 

From New York to Mombasa 

ON the morning of March 5, 1909, Theodore Roosevelt, as we may 
well judge, roused from sleep with a fervent sense of freedom 
and exhilaration. He had cast off the weight of political 
responsiblity which had laid heavily upon him for nearly eight years, 
and at last was free from the burdens of office and in a position to enjoy 
to its full a genuine holiday. 

That "Call of the Wild" which had rung in his ears in his younger 
days and led him west to the companionship of the cowboy and the 
perils of the hunting field, was ringing again in his ears. A born 
huntsman, with a native love of adventure and a strong zest for 
stirring and perilous scenes, the "Call of the Wild" now drew him in 
a different direction, to that African wilderness which is the haunt of 
the most savage and dangerous beasts on the face of the earth. 
Hunting in America is a tame and mild enjoyment compared with 
hunting in Africa. We have the grizzly bear, to be sure, a foe not 
safe to despise. But there may be found the elephants, the rhinoceros, 
the buffalo, the lion, creatures to be challenged on their native soil 
only by the most hardy and daring of men. 

It was not alone these lordly beasts that our huntsman had to 
fear. The district he sought is one where lurk deadly diseases, fevers 
that enervate the frame, that mysterious "sleeping sickness" from 
whose slumbers few awake, disorders that lie in wait for those not 
native to tropical climes; and earnest warnings were sent the ex- 
President that he was going to his doom, that in the African fevers he 
would find foes tenfold more deadly than the wildest beasts. 

So far as we know all this rather whetted Roosevelt's appetite for 
these new hunting fields than deterred him from them. We cannot 
say that he is devoid of the faculty of fear, but he has a happy faculty 
of concealing it. He had thrown off the harness of the Presidency, 

177J 



7 8 FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 

which had fettered him so long. He had refused to listen to the voice 
of the tempter, which told him that the White House and the Presi- 
dent's chair still awaited him and were his to be had for the asking. No, 
he had amply earned a holiday and was determined to have it — "a 
holiday as is a holiday," in the midst of the African wilds and in the 
presence of the earth's most terrible beasts. 

Eager to get away, to shake the dust of civilization from his feet, 
to breathe the free air of uncultured nature, to feel the thrill of new 
adventure, the released President hurried his preparations. The 
members of the expedition were carefully selected, the juvenile of the 
party being his youthful son Kermit, who was trained to be its photog- 
rapher, but who has since shown himself to be a true "chip of the old 
block" in his hunting intrepidity and success. 

Everything likely to be of need in the wild was carefully selected, 
with the judgment and skill of one who knew just what the hunter 
requires and what he can well do without. The sporting pieces 
especially were chosen with care, with the knowledge that life might 
often depend on the accuracy of the rifle and the trustworthy character 
of the ammunition. 

The 23d of March, less than three weeks from the close of his 
Presidential career, was the date selected by Mr. Roosevelt for his 
start, and as may be imagined his life was a busy one during that brief 
interval. It is interesting to state that one of the last visitors at 
Oyster Bay before his departure was his mountaineer companion, 
M. F. Cronin, the Adirondack guide and stage driver who, seven and 
a half years before, had brought him through his breakneck midnight 
drive to the railroad station at North Creek, a rough and headlong 
ride in which it is said a pair of horses was killed. 

Word had come of the perilous condition of President McKinley, 
and the bold driver felt that he was bringing a new President to his 
chair. Now, that his Presidential career was at an end, his moun- 
taineer friend came to bid him godspeed on the eve of his setting out 
upon a new career. 

On the morning of March 23, 1909, ex-President Roosevelt ;set off 
on his long journey from Oyster Bay to Mombasa. The ride to New 
York was an ovation. At every station a crowd had gathered to wave 



FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 79 

good-bye and wish good luck to the departing hunter. On reaching 
the .wharf of the Hamburg-American Line, where waited the ocean 
greyhound "Hamburg," ready to convey him to Naples, a cheering 
throng, thousands in number, awaited to give him an enthusiastic 
send-off. It was no easy matter to reach the deck of the steamer 
through this mass of admiring humanity. 

Many friends and members of his late administration accom- 
panied him on board, and as the great steamer slowly glided out from 
her dock the distinguished traveler stood on the captain's bridge, wav- 
ing a parting farewell with his black slouch hat. By his side stood his 
son, Kermit, both gladdened by the cheers of the friendly multitude. 

One of the latest and most pleasing incidents of the departure 
was the advent of a messenger from President Taft, who brought as 
a present a collapsable gold ruler, one foot long, with pencil attached, 
and inscribed as follows : 

"To Theodore Roosevelt from William Howard Taft. Good-bye 
and good luck. Best wishes for a safe return." 

That the outgoing traveler was highly pleased with this parting 
tribute need scarcely be said. The returning messenger bore back his 
grateful thanks. 

What shall we say of the voyage? What can be said other than 
of the innumerable voyages of innumerable tourists, whose principal 
aim is to prevent the journey from becoming wearisomely monoto- 
nous. That there was little rest for Roosevelt on board ship, we may 
be sure. He is of the unresting type. Those who wished to interview 
him had to do so en route, for every day he walked a good ten miles 
to and fro on the deck. And the deck did not limit the range of his 
activity. He pervaded the ship. Not a part or a feature of it escaped 
his attention. From the bridge to the coal-heavers' den he made his 
way, everybody who knew anything was obliged to give up his last 
item of useful information, and by the time shore was reached again 
the traveler had learned enough about life on shipboard to write a 
nautical novel. 

Meanwhile his diet was of the simplest, his meals being limited 
to two a day. The purpose of this abstemiousness was to keep down 
his weight. Lightness and agility were requisite in the purpose he 
had in view. 



8o FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 

In former times the Atlantic traveler cut loose from the world. 
During his voyage the only world he knew was the cramped and 
narrow one bounded by the walls and decks of the ship. The ocean of 
tossing waves cut him off from all beside. But in these days we have 
"reformed all that." Wireless telegraphy keeps us in touch with the 
land we have left and the land to which we are bound, and all through 
his voyage the darting of the electric waves through hundreds of aerial 
miles told our traveler of what was being done on land and told the 
friends he had left the daily occurrences of his life at sea. 

One of these was rather startling. The news came that a crazed 
Italian, a steerage passenger, had sought to assassinate him and had 
been seized and fettered in the stronghold of the ship. It gave, how- 
ever, only a passing thrill to those at home, for it was quickly con- 
tradicted and proved to be based upon an event of small significance. 

The harbor of Fayal, in the Azores, was reached on March 29. 
Roosevelt landed at Horta, the island capital, and was taken a two 
hours' drive about the town by the governor. A second stop was made 
at Ponta Delgada, the largest city on the group and the third in size 
of Portuguese cities. Here the ex-President met with a real peril, far 
more dangerous than that of the crazed Italian. 

There was a rough sea on, so boisterous that only three passen- 
gers were willing to accompany the intrepid Roosevelt in the small 
boat that took him ashore. It was on his return, after visiting the 
United States Consul and seeing the city, that the peril was encoun- 
tered. The small boat was tossed about like a cockle-shell on the 
unquiet sea, and as it neared the ship was dashed violently against its 
side. At the same time a ten-foot wave rolled over it, drenching the 
travelers to the waist. Roosevelt coolly waited his chance, made a 
leap at the right moment, his hand was caught by the first officer, and 
in an instant more he was safe on board. 

The next stopping place was at Gibraltar, which was reached on 
April 2. Here Colonel Roosevelt had the opportunity to make a thor- 
ough inspection of this impregnable outlying fortress of Great Britain. 
Certain festivities also took place, including a dinner and a dance, in 
which Roosevelt, who is little given to "twirl the light fantastic toe," 
consented to open the ball with Miss Draper, one of his traveling 



FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 81 

companions. Here also he made a brief speech, ending humorously 
with the words: 

"Everybody has been very kind to me, but I think it must be an 
infernal nuisance to have a retired President on board." 

Three days later, on April 5, the harbor of Naples was entered, 
the "Hamburg" reaching her voyage end at that great and famous 
metropolis of Southern Italy. Roosevelt's stay here was to be short, but 
it was one of continuous ovation. As the great steamer entered the 
harbor it was greeted by a deafening peal of steam whistles, the music 
of many bands, and a splendid show of bunting from the vessels of 
all types and nations that occupied the ample bay. There was present 
an Italian warship and a multitude of other craft, all gay with flags 
and bunting from stem to stern. 

On land the welcome was as enthusiastic. Had our plain Ameri- 
can tourist been a conquering king returning from a glorious cam- 
paign, he could not have been received more heartily by the vast crowd 
assembled to gaze on the late head of the American republic. Floral 
offerings were superabundant, among them a great group of red, white 
and black carnations from Emperor William and a splendid garland 
of fragrant blooms from the Empress. A letter from the Emperor 
accompanied the gift, cordially inviting him to stop at Berlin on his 
return and ending with "Hail to the successful huntsman!" 

On landing, the Hotel Excelsior was sought, where the traveler 
met various Italian officials and was greeted by scores of prominent 
Americans. He subsequently had an interview with the Duke and 
Duchess of Aosta in their splendid palace at Capodimente, affairs of 
state preventing the King of Italy from meeting him during his brief 
stay. 

From Naples the traveler proceeded to Messina, the scene of the 
recent devastating earthquake. His observations here were condensed 
in a telegraph cable message in which he warmly praised the splendid 
work done at Messina and Reggio with the building lumber shipped 
from this country. Visiting the American camp, he found two hun- 
dred and fifty houses already completed and arrangements made for 
the rapid construction of one thousand two hundred and fifty more. 
The work was under the general direction of Ambassador Griscom 



82 FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 

and the immediate care of Lieutenant-Commander Belknap, assisted 
by other navy officers. Working under these were forty able sailors 
and a number of stalwart American carpenters. "In addition," he 
concluded, "there is a fine group of Americans, such as J. Elliott, Win- 
throp Chandler, J. Bush and R. Hale, who are giving their time and 
energies to help the philanthropic work. I wish to say that I consider 
that the American people are deeply indebted to each and every one of 
these men." 

Two days only were given to the sightseeing at Naples and Mes- 
sina, with the arrival and departure, the Roosevelt party leaving on 
the 6th in the steamer "Admiral," which was to carry them to Mom- 
basa. A matter of some minor interest is that, while on board the 
"Hamburg," an army surgeon presented him with a syringe filled with 
an antivenom for snake poison. This was to guard him against pos- 
sible perils more insidious than those likely to come from wild beasts. 
How efficacious it would be apt to prove is another question. 

As may be seen, Colonel Roosevelt had lost little time so far in 
sightseeing on land. He would have enough of shore experience on 
reaching Africa; now straightforward to Mombasa was the cry. 
From Naples the "Admiral" sped through the most historic waters of 
the world, those of the eastern Mediterranean, the scene of the com- 
merce and naval wars of Phoenicia, Greece, Carthage and Rome. 
Passing Port Said and worming its way through the narrow channel 
of the Suez Canal, it kept on down the Red Sea, famous principally 
for its tropic heats. 

The only stop was made at Aden, at the extremity of Arabia, and 
this a brief one. Thence the steamer plunged into the waters of the 
Indian Ocean for its final goal at Mombasa. 

This final lap of the voyage lasted a week, its only interesting 
incident being a dinner given by the captain of the "Admiral" to his 
distinguished passenger, the table being finely decorated and speeches 
and toasts being features of the occasion. 

Mombasa was reached on April 21, the total voyage having taken 
rather less than a month. The "Admiral" entered Kilindin harbor in a 
heavy rain, almost a deluge, the water pouring in drenching floods. 
The steamer flew the American flag at fore and main, which was 
saluted by the British cruiser "Pandora," then lying in the harbor. 



FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 83 

Darkness had fallen, but Roosevelt and his son lost no time in 
leaving the ship, being taken ashore in the commandant's surf boat 
and carried to a place of shelter in chairs on the shoulders of stalwart 
natives. 

Such was the landing on Africa's shores, at night, in a downpour 
of rain, and on the shoulders of natives of the soil. But Colonel Roose- 
velt had no thought of bad omens. He was in splendid health and 
eager for the start to the hunting grounds, which he said he could not 
reach a minute too soon. 

A military guard was drawn up to receive him and a picturesque 
crowd of Europeans, East Indians and negroes crowded to gaze upon 
the famous American potentate, while the governor of the place gave 
him a cordial welcome. He had intended to stay two days at Mom- 
basa, but the flood of rain induced a change of plan, and on the fol- 
lowing day he set out on a special train for the ranch of Sir Alfred 
Pease, where his first fortnight was to be spent. 

With this story of how Roosevelt reached Africa, let us proceed to 
describe the make-up of his expedition and the purpose for which this 
long journey was undertaken. That the desire to see the greatest 
animals of the world in their native haunts and to enjoy the exciting 
experience of facing these great creatures in a state of freedom, with 
an opportunity to fight for their lives, was a moving influence in his 
journey no one can justly doubt. But that he sought the African jun- 
gle moved solely by what the censorious Frenchman said was the Eng- 
lishman's spirit: "Good morning; it is a fine day; let us go out and kill 
something," we should be loath to affirm. For back of Roosevelt's 
journey was a scientific purpose, for which we must give him due 
credit. 

It is not "The Roosevelt African Expedition," but rather "The 
Smithsonian African Expedition," with which we are concerned, for 
it was outfitted by the Smithsonian Institution and its underlying pur- 
pose was to collect specimens of the African mammalia for this great 
educational institution. Mr. Roosevelt, it is true, proposed to pay his 
own expenses and those of his son Kermit, including their outfit and 
transportation, but he simply proposed to obtain an adult specimen of 
each sex of the big African game, and also of the smaller mammals 



8 4 FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 

and birds so far as possible, and to do no other killing than was 
necessary to supply the camp with meat. The specimens collected 
were to be deposited in the United States National Museum for scien- 
tific study. Mr. Roosevelt has added more than any other man to our 
knowledge of the big game of the United States, and we can appre- 
ciate the desire of the Smithsonian scientists to secure the services of 
a man of his training in field life and the pursuit of big game to add 
to their scientific treasures. 

The men who believe in the study of the mammal and the bird in 
their living state and in their native haunts, the hunting with the field 
glass rather than with the rifle, know the advantage of museum col- 
lections in order that field identification may be made certain and that 
the life study of mammals may be stimulated, and the purpose of these 
scientists was to secure such a valuable addition to its educational 
exhibit, for the use of students who need such material for compara- 
tive purposes. 

The true nature lover gets the zest of outdoor life, the sense of 
the freshness and beauty of things to be obtained from a trip afield, 
and to obtain these laudable experiences it is not necessary to keep 
his rifle constantly at work, shooting at every crack of a twig or rustle 
of a leaf. And that Theodore Roosevelt has in his make-up much of 
this wholesome spirit everyone who is familiar with his history must 
acknowledge. 

Back of this, however, there is in his make-up the spirit of the 
hunter, the zest of the daring impulse, the love of facing and over- 
coming peril, the intense excitement of putting his own life in pawn 
in a struggle with a dangerous antagonist, and while feeling that 
science would be benefited by the results of his adventurous journey, 
there was in it much of the heroic spirit that moved him when he 
charged up San Juan Hill in the face of the Spanish batteries. His 
skill and daring were to cope with the strength and alertness of the 
lords of the wilds and the soul of the soldier stirred within him as much 
as the spirit of the scientist. 

Mr. Roosevelt and the scientists of the Smithsonian were already 
familiar with every kind of big game that he was likely to encounter. 
As for the leader of the expedition, he had the name of every species 



FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 85 

of antelope at his instant command and bore a picture in his mind of 
every kind of creature that through his instrumentality might be added 
to the National Museum's stores. During his last months in the White 
House a portion of the President's time was given over to the study of 
the fauna of that part of Africa which the American caravan would 
traverse. The smaller mammals and the birds had not been left out of 
Mr. Roosevelt's calculations. The scientific interest in a wild creature 
is not gauged by its size; the mouse has its interest no less than the 
lion. 

The expedition into Africa was thoroughly equipped. Every- 
thing that knowledge of conditions could suggest had its place in the 
outfit. The quarry that was secured was instantly prepared for trans- 
portation. The skins and the hides were well salted and dried, and 
packed in a way that made their preservation certain. Such skeletons 
as were to be saved, and the skulls which were of first value for com- 
parative purposes, were cared for as only field scientists knew how, 
and the collected treasures of the African trip were brought to Wash- 
ington in a condition to delight the hearts of the government scientists. 

We give below the names and personality of the members of the 
Smithsonian African Expedition. Of Theodore Roosevelt it is not 
necessary to write. What he has done as a scientist and as a hunter 
is known to all. 

Dr. and Colonel Edgar A. Mearns, United States army (retired), 
is a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York 
City. He has been in the military service for twenty-six years and 
during that time while on field duty and on detached service he has 
pursued his zoological studies. Admittedly Dr. Mearns is one of the 
first field naturalists of the country, and his reports and books are ac- 
knowledged authorities. His publications include studies of mammals, 
birds and plants. He was the naturalist accredited by the govern- 
ment to the Mexican boundary expedition, and as the result of his 
researches the scientific world has the work entitled "Mammals of the 
Mexican Boundary of the United States." This work includes a 
summary of the natural history of the region covered, with a list of 
the trees of the country adjacent to the boundary. Dr. Mearns knows 
birds as he knows mammals, and his knowledge of American ornith- 



86 FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 

ology is second to none, while he is one of the most successful surgeons 
and physicians in the service list. He is inured to the hardships of 
field life. He is a good shot and a good companion. Of him a Wash- 
ington scientist who has been in the field with him time and again 
has said of him: "He is the kindest man I ever knew. If it is cold he 
wants you to take his coat in addition to your own ; if it is hot he wants 
to help take off your coat before he will take off his own. He knows 
nothing of contention and no man can be found to make a better camp 
companion." 

Edmund Heller is a graduate of Stanford University of the Class 
of 1 901. He is a thoroughly trained naturalist, whose special work 
was the preparation and preservation of specimens of the large ani- 
mals that the expedition secured. Mr. Heller Went with Carl E. 
Akeley into Africa on a collecting trip for the Field Columbian Mu- 
seum. The expedition was successful in every way. Mr. Heller has 
conducted successful scientific excursions into Alaska and through the 
Death Valley. In the latter place he followed the trail which Dr. C. 
Hart Merriman, of the Biological Survey of Washington, had taken 
some years before and in a large measure he duplicated the Merriam 
collecting achievement. Mr. Heller has explored and collected in 
Mexico and in Central America, and it is said of him that he "always 
has made good." He has the faculty of making friends and never in 
the course of any of his expeditions has there been the slightest trouble 
with the natives. 

J. Alden Loring, of Oswego, N. Y., is known as a successful col- 
lector of birds and small mammals. In addition to this Mr. Loring 
is a field naturalist who understands the preservation of skins in all 
climates. He was attached for some time to the United States Bio- 
logical Survey, and later he was connected with the Bronx Zoological 
Park, New York City. Mr. Loring has made field trips in various 
parts of the United States, British America and Mexico. The United 
States National Museum once sent him abroad as a traveling collector 
of small mammals. In three months of field work in Sweden, Bel- 
gium, Germany and Switzerland he collected and shipped 900 speci- 
mens all carefully prepared. This stands as a record-breaking field 
achievement. Men who have been in the field with Mr. Loring say 



FROM NEW YORK TO MOMBASA 87 

that it is impossible to discourage him, and that his hopefulness and 
spirit make things cheerful on every day that otherwise would be a 
blue day in camp. 

If preparation, enthusiasm, energy and ability to shoot straight, 
count as they should count, the Smithsonian African Expedition under 
the leadership of Theodore Roosevelt was one that has rarely been 
surpassed and its fitness for its work was amply shown by its valuable 
results. 



CHAPTER XI 

The East African Railroad 

LANDING at Mombasa the Roosevelt party boarded a train on 
, the Uganda Railway to begin the long trip of more than five 
hundred miles from the east coast of Africa to the great Lake 
of Victoria Nyanza. 

This long journey may be divided into three principal stages : The 
jungles, the Plains and the Mountains. The first quarter of an hour is 
spent in traversing the island on which the city of Mombasa is built, 
and the train reaches the mainland by a long iron bridge which spans' 
the separating channel. Westward the train runs, winding around 
among the uneven spots of the country on a fairly steep up grade, the 
landscape luxuriantly covered with vegetation thickly peopled with birds 
and butterflies of brilliant and beautiful colors. Palms and creeper- 
covered trees rise out of the glades on either hand, making a panorama 
of tropical vegetation calculated to prepare the-traveler's eye for the 
wonderful luxuriance of Central Africa. 

For it must be remembered that this railroad has been built only 
a few years, and principally as a means of transporting men and goods 
between Mombasa, the seaport on the eastern coast, and the rich Pro- 
tectorate of Uganda, which lies on the north and northeastern shores 
of the enormous Lake Victoria Nyanza. 

Mombasa is a town of more than 20,000 population, and was 
acquired by the British East African Company in 1890 from Zanzibar. 
It was occupied by the Portuguese in 1505, and towards the end of the 
sixteenth century a fort was built there. These possessors, however, 
were driven out in 1698, and in 1834 the city passed into the control of 
Zanzibar. It is a naval coaling station, and as the terminus of the 
Uganda Railway an important commercial port for the traffic into the 
interior of Africa. 

The Uganda Railway, although built primarily as a political neces- 

(88) 




41 




S 5 




Photographed by Paul Thompson, N. Y. 

EX-PRESIDENT 



ROOSEVELT IN AFRICA. 



A common garden bench was firmly fastened on the pilot of the engine of the East African 
Railway which took the distinguished hunting party from Mombasa on the coast up through the 
interior. By this arrangement the hunters overlooked none of the big game which throngs the 
country near the railroad and fully enjoyed the wonderful scenery of the regions traversed in their 
long journey. Col. Roosevelt is seen at the left of the picture adjusting his helmet strap just 
before the train started. 





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the east African railroad § 9 

sity in order to secure Britain's hold upon the rich inland states of 
Africa, is actually paying its way, which it was not expected to do 
within any reasonable period. Nearly fifty thousand dollars a mile 
were spent upon its construction, and every few miles are neat little 
stations with their ticket offices, water tanks, signals and flower beds, 
just as in a civilized country, though on all sides of them is the thick 
jungle of the tropics. Every telegraph post is numbered, the grades 
and curves are in line with modern development, and the trains, 
modelled upon the Indian railway pattern, are practically comfortable. 

As the train winds inland and upward the traveler forgets that 
he is under the equator, until at a height of 4,000 feet above the sea 
the jungle changes into forest, characteristic of a cooler climate than 
the tangled luxuriance of the jungles. Farther on the railway emerges 
into the plains. Vast fields of green grass intersected by streams^ 
densely wooded with dark trees and coarse scrub, are broken by rough 
ridges and hills. Here right from the railway train can be seen 
crowds of wild animals, herds of antelope and gazelle, zebras, wilde- 
beeste, hartebeeste, wild ostriches and small deer. At Simba is a 
fruitful hunting ground. Lions and giraffes are abundant, and they 
say that in the early days of the railroad a rhinoceros measured his 
strength against the engine on the tracks with disastrous results to 
himself, after which the rest of his tribe retired to the river beds at 
some distance from the railway. 

A favorite way of shooting game in this section is to ride up and 
down the line on a trolley. The animals are so accustomed to the 
passage of trains and natives that they do not suspect danger unless 
the moving object stops. Accordingly the sportsman drops off the 
car and allows it to pass on, frequently finding himself within range of 
some of the big game of Africa. 

If anyone were asked the reasonable question why the multitude 
of animals which frequent the railway zone do so with such utter con- 
fidence and such lack of fear of their natural enemy, man, the answer 
is that they are protected within this zone, shooting being forbidden 
within a fixed distance of the railway, except in the case of such dan- 
gerous brutes as the lion, the leopard, the hyena and the rhinoceros. 
The strange thing is that the animals have come to recognize this fact 



9 o THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 

and avail themselves of it. No one has issued a bulletin in animal 
language to the effect that a treaty of peace has been signed between 
man and beast, so far as this region is concerned. Yet the fact is that 
since the shooting of innocent creatures has ceased within the railway 
zone, it can be traversed in safety from the death-dealing bullet, and 
its native inhabitants have come to recognize this interesting fact. 

Much has been written in past times concerning the intelligence 
of animals. Some maintain that they are governed by instinct only, 
that they lack the faculties of thought and reason. But how are we 
to understand the fact just stated? Instinct is hereditary. It must 
develop as a native possession of the creature concerned. 'It cannot 
cover the question of adaptation to new conditions, unknown to the 
ancestry of the animal. We cannot well escape from the conclusion 
that thought is here involved, the power of recognizing a new situa- 
tion and taking advantage of it. In the small brain of the antelope, 
the ostrich or the giraffe must awaken some such conception as : "This 
place is safe. We hear no more the thunder and see no more the 
blinding flash of those black tubes in the hands of two-legged mur- 
derers, and no more behold our fellows fall dead. Safety dwells near 
the thunder engine; we can trust ourselves there." 

And this is not all. They not only say this to themselves, but 
seem able to tell the glad tidings to their fellows, so that multitudes 
of diverse creatures gather there in utter trust. Or the mere fact 
that some of these creatures have ceased to fear the engine and its 
laden train may inspire others to the same trustfulness. 

The example of animal intelligence here seen is by no means con- 
fined to this corner of Africa. Something like it is known in many 
lands. It is a common experience of hunters that birds, which fly in 
fear from the vicinity of the gun-bearing man they have learned to 
dread, pay no heed to a passing wagon, experience having taught them 
that danger does not lurk within it. The protected animals within the 
Yellowstone National Park have learned a similar lesson and have 
ceased to fear man within its charmed boundaries. It is said that an 
elk, heedful and fearful outside its bounds, puts on a different attitude 
when the magic limit is crossed, stalking about in proud confidence 
and seeming disdain of its native enemy. 



THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 91 

The fact is a strange one, and one whose significance cannot be 
ignored. It vastly widens our conception of the native intelligence of 
these lower forms of life. We cannot fail to admit that their brains 
work in somewhat the same manner as our own — not reaching as 
lofty conceptions, yet indicating powers of logical reasoning in the 
lower levels of thought. Certainly a significant evidence of this is 
the quickness with which the animal hosts of northeastern Africa have 
adapted themselves to the new situation, and seem to tell each other : 
"It is all right here. The thunder-wagon will not hurt you. You are 
safe where it passes/' 

The state of affairs here described did not always exist in this 
region. Years before the arrival of Colonel Roosevelt and his train 
a very different condition prevailed. In the early days of the railway 
enterprise, when the building operations were in progress, no restric- 
tion to the methods of the hunter existed and it was a common prac- 
tice to shoot animals from the train. In those days, then, the happy 
confidence between man and brute did not exist and the approach of 
the engine was the signal for a wild scamper of the animals of the 
vicinity. They dreaded its approach then as much as they disregard 
it now. The animal intelligence of which we have spoken then acted 
to the opposite effect and the warning probably went out to avoid this 
death-dealing monster that had invaded their haunts. 

But victory in the fray between man and beast was not solely 
upon the side of man. Lions haunted the locality, and though the hun- 
ter has found this maned and roaring animal to be anything but the 
king of beasts of old tradition, but rather a lurking and sneaking ten- 
ant of the wilds that fears and avoids the hunter, yet there is a phase 
of his career in which his whole character seems to change. 

When the lion has once tasted human flesh he acquires an ardent 
liking for it and is apt to pursue man with an inordinate appetite, the 
man-eating lion becoming the terror of the locality in which he is 
found. He ceases in a measure to care for his customary food and 
lies in wait for man with the intense desire of an epicure of the wil- 
derness. 

We speak of this here from the fact that during the building of 
the railway a number of man-eating lions infested its locality and 



9 2 



THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 



made such havoc among the workmen that the situation grew very 
serious. These men were largely East Indians, who did the work 
under the direction of English engineers, and at times the ravages 
of the man-eating lions became so great that the directors of the work 
were at their wits' end how to deal with them. 

These ravening creatures displayed a fiendish cunning, lurking 
in the thickets about the huts of the workmen and making sudden 
night rushes into their habitations in which they usually succeeded in 
carrying off some helpless victim. Various methods were taken to 
prevent their raids, the villages being surrounded with fences of 
barbed wire, but the least defect in the defences offered an opportunity 
for the cunning prowlers and the work of devastation went on. 

One of the engineers tells a graphic story of his efforts to destroy 
one of these man-eaters and the keen intelligence with which it evaded 
his efforts. In vain would he lie in wait near the scene of some recent 
raid; the next day tidings would come that a group of huts several 
miles distant had been invaded and some victim snatched from his 
bed and borne off in the strong jaws of the powerful brute. And the 
hunter became the hunted, the lion stalked the engineer himself in his 
sleeping place and only good fortune saved him from becoming its 
prey. 

Finally, driven to desperation by the nightly loss of his men, he 
instituted a ceaseless hunt for the brute, watching for it from the 
branches of a tree near one of its accustomed haunts, and finally suc- 
ceeded in bringing it down. The hide of this Napoleon of the wilds 
now perhaps decorates some London drawing-room. 

Since the railway has been finished the lion has largely deserted 
its vicinity. The noise of the trains may have disturbed his sulky 
majesty and caused him to shun the line, and the stinging thud of the 
hunter's bullet may have aided in this, for the lion is not classed among 
the protected animals. 

Yet there are places where he may be seen from the train. Chief 
among these is Simba, "The Place of Lions," where the train pas- 
sengers may have the fortune to see a half dozen or more of these 
great carnivora stalking proudly across the plain, a respectful width 
being left for them by the smaller animals. At Nakaisu, one traveler 



THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 93 

incidentally tells us, he saw six yellow lions walk leisurely across the 
track in broad daylight, and spectacles of this kind are not uncommon 
in this locality. It may be, however, that the tawny brute measures 
his distance and keeps out of easy rifle shot from the train. There is 
another animal which avoids the train, or rarely comes within view., 
this being the huge and surly rhinoceros, who does not like this near- 
ness of civilization and seeks in preference the wooded river beds and 
its native solitudes. 

The means of observing the splendid and well-peopled zoological 
garden through which the road runs is one of which Roosevelt was 
quick to avail himself, that in which the cow-catcher of the engine 
is used as an observation car. One does not need to seat himself, how- 
ever, on the iron bars, for an ordinary garden seat is fastened on to 
the engine front, resting upon the cow-catcher, and offering comfort- 
able accommodation for four or five sightseers, from which they may 
observe in ease and safety the interesting country through which they 
are borne. 

It should here be said that the road, though running through the 
heart of what was so lately a savage country, is admirably well built, 
its track neatly smoothed and ballasted, its grades and curves being 
like those of a well-appointed road in a civilized land, and the trains 
running along as smoothly and evenly as upon a European or Ameri- 
can line. 

This road is only a beginning. Taking passengers in comfort in 
forty-eight hours through a country which it formerly required months 
of hardship to traverse, it is but a pioneer, an iron wedge driven deep 
into the dark continent from which others are destined to branch out 
in various directions. Built with no special thought of profit, it is 
already paying its way. It is not yet a money-making concern, but it 
will be when that fertile land becomes gridironed with iron rails and 
its valued products are brought in increasing quantities to the sea- 
port of Mombasa, thence to make their way to the civilized lands of 
the earth. 

Roosevelt, a born lover of nature, had abundant opportunity to 
observe some of nature's choicest wonders and charms from his cow- 
catcher perch. Before him beautiful birds and brilliant butterflies 



g4 THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 

flew from tree to tree and flower to flower. Far below were deep 
and ragged gorges, over which the train passed on elevated bridges 
and down which ran flooded streams, flowing into glades of palms and 
trees embraced by climbing creepers. Everywhere was luxuriance, 
nature at her best. As the train ascended from the humid coast lands, 
with their heats and glories, the jungle was left behind and forest 
took its place, different but not less luxuriant. Here, at an elevation 
of four thousand feet, the olive replaced the palm and the country 
took on the aspect of temperate climes. 

When Makindu station was passed the forest ended and a new 
phase of African scenery opened before the traveler. A broad prairie 
land succeeded immense fields of green pasture spreading out before 
the traveler. This was intersected by streams with well-wooded banks, 
while bluffs and ridges broke the monotony of the panorama. 

It is on this grassy plain that the great multitude of animals of 
which we have spoken come into view. It must have given joy to 
Roosevelt's heart — a born lover of animated nature — to see these 
graceful creatures, never before beheld by him except behind the 
bounds and bars of a menagerie or a zoological garden, here wander- 
ing about at liberty and disporting themselves in their native haunts. 

These came not singly before his eyes, but in droves and herds. 
Multitudes of antelopes in great variety, from the graceful gazelle 
to the great wildebeeste and hartebeeste; troops of zebras, at times as 
many as five hundred in a drove; ostriches walking sedately in twos 
and threes, and small animals of many kinds. With the aid of a field 
glass this spectacle could be traced for long distances, but many of the 
animals came within close view, and the traveler could readily see 
and admire the striped sides of the beautiful zebras, which would stand 
and watch the train with placid assurance, or perhaps scamper a few 
hundred yards away and then turn to gaze again. In it all was an 
innocent trustfulness which doubtless warmed the observer's heart. 

If one wished to indulge in a hunt, the opportunity could easily be 
embraced. It is well to say here that a variety of what we may call 
trolley cars are in common use in that part of Africa. In Mombasa 
is a system of narrow-gauge railways which follow the main streets, 
with branches running to every house. No white man walks in that 



THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 



95 



tropic town if he can in any way avoid doing so. Each official keeps 
his private car, not moved by electricity, but pushed by coolies, and 
bearing him from office to house and back again. 

It is such a conveyance of which the hunter avails himself. Leav- 
ing the train, he has only to get a trolley car and have himself pushed 
up and down the line. The animals pay no more attention to this than 
to the trains, becoming suspicious only when train or trolley stops. 
The shrewd hunter, therefore, slips off the car while it is in motion, 
and thus may find himself within a few hundred yards of his quarry, 
while the car goes on. His fortune then will depend upon his degree 
of skill with the rifle. 

This is one way of obtaining game. It is not the way in which 
a trained hunter like Colonel Roosevelt would be inclined to indulge 
largely. It looks too much like taking an unfair advantage of the 
animals. There is a second method which proved more to his taste. 
This is to leave the railway and prowl about among the trees and un- 
dergrowth of a neighboring river bed. Here in a few minutes one 
may bury oneself in the wildest and savagest kind of forest. The air 
becomes still and hot over the open spaces of dry sand and the pools 
of water. High grass, huge boulders, tangled vegetation, multitudes 
of thorn-bushes obstruct the march, and the ground itself is scarped 
and guttered by the rains into the strangest formations. Around the 
hunter, breast-high, shoulder-high, overhead, rises the African jungle. 
There is a brooding silence, broken now by the voice of a bird, now 
by the scolding bark of a baboon, or by the crunching of one's own 
feet on the crumbling soil. We enter the haunt of the wild beasts; 
their tracks, the remnants of their repasts, are easily and frequently 
discovered. Here a lion has passed since the morning. There a 
rhinoceros has certainly been within the hour — perhaps within ten 
minutes. We creep and scramble through the game paths, anxiously, 
rifles at full cock, not knowing what each turn or step may reveal. 
The wind, when it blows at all, blows fitfully, now from this quarter, 
now from that ; so that one can never be certain that it will not betray 
the intruder in these grim domains to the beast he seeks, or to some 
other, less welcome, before he sees him. At length, after two hours'* 
scramble and scrape, probably without seeing a beast — lion or rhinoc- 



96 THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 

eros — we emerge breathless, as from another world, half astonished 
to find ourselves within a quarter of a mile of the railway line, with 
its trolley, luncheon, soda water and other conveniences of civilization. 

Let us now follow our hunter farther on his route, to where the 
train descends into the famous Rift Valley, one of the most remark- 
able phenomena of nature which Africa presents. This celebrated 
valley is a strange depression in the elevated region of eastern Africa, 
beginning in the southern portion of German East Africa at an alti- 
tude of about 2,500 feet, and rising in height as it passes northward 
till it reaches its highest elevation of 6,300 feet at Lake Naivasha. 
Then its level slowly decreases until at Lake Rudolf it is only 1,200 
feet above sea level. From this point it dwindles in elevation, with 
occasional ridges, until sea level is reached at the Gulf of Aden. It 
varies from twenty to forty miles in width and is bounded by precip- 
itous sides rising to a much greater elevation. It appears as though 
some convulsion of the earth had caused a section of the great eastern 
plateau to slip down about 3,000 feet below the ground level of the 
land, the great cut being traced by geologists from the lower end of 
Lake Tanganyika to the land of Palestine. 

On looking at a relief map of northeast Africa it almost suggests 
the idea that nature had been considering whether she would not cut 
off another slice of Africa in addition to Madagascar. Madagascar 
may have been originally separated from Africa in that way. In this 
curious depression of the "Rift Valley" is a series of lakes, salt in 
some instances and fresh in others. Particularly noteworthy is a salt 
lake named Lake Hannington, after a missionary bishop murdered by 
the natives. (This commemoration was rather inappropriate because 
he was killed at a distance of nearly four hundred miles from this 
place. ) Lake Hannington is visited at the present day by tourists who 
come to see the great number of flamingoes which make their home 
here. 

On Lake Hannington it is no exaggeration to say that there must 
be close upon a million flamingoes. These birds are mainly collected 
around the northern end of the lake and on the submerged banks which 
break up the deep blue-green of its still surface. The shores where 
they cluster, and these banks in the middle of the lake where they are 



THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 97 

above the water's edge, are dazzling white with the birds' guano. 
These flamingoes breed on a flat plain of mud about a mile broad at 
the north end of Lake Hannington, where their nests, in the form of 
little mounds of mud with feathers plastered on the hollowed top, 
appear like innumerable mole-hills. 

The birds, having hitherto been absolutely unmolested by man, 
are quite tame. They belong to a rosy species (Phoeniconais minor) 
which is slightly smaller than the Mediterranean flamingo, but ex- 
quisitely beautiful in plumage. The adult bird has a body and neck 
of rosy pink, the color of sunset clouds. The beak is scarlet and pur- 
ple; the legs are deep rose-pink inclining to scarlet. Underneath the 
black-pinioned wings the larger feathers are scarlet-crimson, while 
beautiful crimson crescents tip the tertiaries and wing-coverts on the 
upper surface of the wings. Apparently the mature plumage is not 
reached until the birds are about three years old. The younger fla- 
mingoes very soon attain the same size as the rosy adults, but their 
plumage gradually varies from a gray-white, through the color of a 
pale tea-rose, before its full sunset glow is attained. 

The belt of flamingoes on the north side of the lake must be nearly 
a mile in breadth, reaching from the water's edge into the lake. As 
looked upon from above the great colony of birds is gray-white in 
color on the shoreward side, then in the middle of the mass it becomes 
white, while its lakeward ring is of the most exquisite rose-pink. This 
is due to the fact that the young birds frequent the outer edge of the 
semicircle, while the oldest ones stretch farthest out into the lake. 

When these birds rise the noise they make can be heard nearly 
a mile away, their "kronk, kronk, kronk," mingled with splashings and 
swishings, making such a tumult of sound as to fill the air with uproar. 
Their mode of rising is an ungainly one, their flight being preceded 
by an absurd gallop through the mud before they can lift themselves 
on their wings. It is not easy to make them take to flight, they being 
so tame that one can approach quite near to them without causing any 
signs of disturbance. 

Looking on the Rift Valley from above, as Colonel Roosevelt and 
his party did, one sees a magnificent view, full of the elements of 
grandeur. Standing on the northwestern edge of the Elgeyo escarp- 



98 THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 

ment, they were able to look down fully five thousand feet, to a shining 
river that followed the valley's level, threading in its flow a lake and 
many glittering pools. At this point begin those splendid forests of 
coniferous trees which form the characteristic feature of this region. 
Away westward may be seen the great blue mass of Mount Elgon 
and in the nearer view a land of noble aspect. Before the eye stretch 
rich rolling downs of luxuriant grass, bits of leafy woodland, forests 
of acacia, and lower down, along the watercourses of the valley, vege- 
tation of tropical type. The downs, which slope away northward for 
fifty or sixty miles, are clad with a soft/silky grass, with hues varying 
from a pale pink to mauve, gray or russet as the wind bends the flower- 
ing stems. 

In passing over this plateau region the American visitors were 
warned not to follow any seeming native path, as these were usually 
cunning devices to tempt wandering antelopes or other unsuspecting 
animals to concealed game-traps. Such a trap would probably be an 
oblong pitfall concealed by sticks and cut grass, through which the 
unwary creatures might fall into a pit from which they could not 
escape, perhaps to be impaled on a sharp-pointed stake planted in the 
bottom of the pit. 

Animals of various species roam here in countless numbers, and 
the few trapped in game pits by the nomad natives are too few in com- 
parison to be considered. What will be the effect, however, if the 
British sportsman is let loose among them, with his desire "to kill 
something," we cannot consider without alarm; especially when we 
consider the fate of the buffaloes of our western plains. These hunts- 
men do not usually go abroad, as did Roosevelt and his companions, 
to bring down only a pair of each species, for scientific purposes, but 
rather to be able to boast how many creatures they had killed, with 
no object but that of pure slaughter in a morning's outing. 

To a nature-lover like Theodore Roosevelt, with his joy in the 
existence of animal life, the scene before him must have been one of 
inspiring delight. Gazing from his point of vantage he could see 
large herds of stately giraffes, standing or stalking about as one may 
see cattle peacefully standing in an American grazing field. These 
giraffes— the camelopards of our old animal story-books — are the 



THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 99 

finest examples known to us of the northern variety of this strange 
creature, a species which extends from east to west far over the north- 
ern part of Central Africa, with the exception of Somaliland, where a 
species of peculiar color is found. 

In the species we are now observing, the color of the adults is 
very dark on the upper part of the body, while they are white below, 
they being thus striking objects when seen from a distance. This is 
especially the case when they are beheld, as may often be the case, 
standing on the tops of some of the numerous ant-hills of this country 
and keenly surveying the region surrounding. Poised thus like a 
sentinel on a mound, a giraffe stands rigidly erect, scarcely moving 
his head ; so that, with his short body and long, tapering neck, he looks 
not unlike an unbranched tree trunk which has been struck by light- 
ning or scorched by a forest fire. 

Looking down from a distance on these broad, rolling downs, the 
giraffes are only one of the forms of large game visible. Herds of 
huge elephants may be seen at intervals, though these great creatures 
usually prefer the forest to the open plain. The rhinoceros may also 
be seen, sometimes a solitary female with her calf, sometimes a mated 
pair, the color a purple-black or a whitish-gray, according to the angle 
from which the light strikes them as they roam through the long grass. 

We have here spoken only of the big game, such great creatures 
as our party of scientific tourists could see at a great distance. Nearer 
at hand are visible great numbers of varied forms. These include 
herds of striped zebras and hartebeests mingled together, the zebras 
with their stripes of black and white, the hartebeests with their rich 
coats of red-gold hue. In the vicinity strut about pairs of jet-black 
ostriches, with white wings and tails and long pink necks. At a dis- 
tance appear groups of the noble waterbuck, the males with their 
branching antlers browsing beside their hornless, doe-like females. 

Here also is the reedbuck, gray-yellow in color, quietly browsing, 
or bounding along at a speed difficult to match. The damiliscus, or 
sable antelope, a creature of dainty proportions and rich coloring, is 
also visible, with others of the same graceful tribe, among them the 
wildebeest, an animal much better known to us by its common name 
of the gnoo or horned horse. The great, elk-like eland also may be 
seen here, though the woodland is its favorite resort. 



ioo THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 

There are other creatures to be seen, the slinking and snapping 
jackal, red and silver of hue, and the dirt-colored, uncouth wart-hog, 
with its bristled hide and erect tail. Lions and leopards are also vis- 
ible, hanging about on the skirts of the browsing herds, seeking prey, 
no doubt, yet causing no seeming tremors of fear in the grazing herds. 

In fact, the spectacle visible from our elevated point of observa- 
tion is one to be seen nowhere else upon the earth, and one upon which 
the party of hunters and nature lovers in whose path we are moving, 
must have gazed upon with the deepest interest and delight. 



CHAPTER XII 

Nairobi and Mt. Kenya 

NAIROBI, the capital of the East Africa Protectorate, lies at the 
foot of wooded hills on the railway, three hundred and twenty- 
seven miles from Mombasa. The town is built on low swampy 
ground, in a rather unhealthy situation, without a very good water 
supply. This happened in the first place because the location was 
convenient for shops and supply depots used in the construction of the 
railway. The government buildings, however, the hospitals and bar- 
racks, are placed a mile farther west on higher ground. About 15,000 
people, with less than 1,000 whites, occupy the tin houses which con- 
stitute the town, but the stores are equipped to supply the needs of a 
very large neighborhood, and Nairobi is therefore headquarters for 
this portion of the world. A brigade of the King's African Rifles, and 
the Central Offices of the Uganda Railway, are also stationed here, and 
the incidentals of civilization which the English always carry with 
them make a strange contrast with the surrounding wilderness of the 
country. To see, for instance, a large company of men sitting down 
to dinner in evening dress would seem to us scarcely in harmony in 
a spot where ten years before lions and other wild beasts were undis- 
turbed. 

It was at this point that President Roosevelt picked up the greater 
part of his hunting outfit, and made a number of hunting excursions in 
the vicinity. 

To add to the incongruity of this landscape under the Equator, 
one hundred miles away rises the snow clad peak of Mt. Kenya, visible 
on a clear day from this higher ground above Nairobi. The flanks 
of the mountain can be reached by a fairly good road in an automobile. 
It passes through a fertile country, undulating and marked by numer- 
ous water courses, shaded with flourishing trees. A number of 
colonists have taken up large estates of many thousand acres, raising 
ostriches, sheep and cattle, or coffee and other staple crops. 

(101) 



io2 NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 

Lion hunting is good here. The traveler's host insists on pro- 
viding him with a lion, and to do this they first beat him up out of the 
reed beds and try to bring him to bay. Ordinarily this dreaded beast 
does not seek a quarrel unless it is forced on him. So the hunters in 
this. neighborhood ride on ponies, and when they have aroused the 
monarch they pursue him as fast as they can, never losing sight of him 
for a moment, trying to head him off and enrage him by their harass- 
ing. Naturally, he resents this treatment and begins to growl and 
roar, perhaps making short charges at his pursuers to scare them off. 
At last, when he sees that the huntsmen intend to attack him, he turns 
at bay, and then there is no fear that he will try to escape. He will 
fight to the death, and when a lion frantic with the agony of a bullet 
wound is at bay death is the only thing that will stop his frenzied 
charges; broken jaws or legs, and body full of bullets, not for an 
instant daunt the courage of this ferocious beast. Either he must be 
killed before he reaches his pursuer, or the man will die for it, 
crushed by the powerful paw, poisoned with claws and feet, or crunched 
in the lion's mouth. It is a dangerous business, but one which Mr. 
Roosevelt was fully nerved for by previous experiences in his exten- 
sive hunting trips before he landed on the coast of Africa. 

Let us return to Nairobi and take up Colonel Roosevelt in an- 
other aspect than that of soldier and hunter, the one in which we are 
more familiar with him, as statesman and dealer in world politics. On 
the 3d of August he and his son Kermit were the guests at a public 
banquet given in his honor at Nairobi, Frederick J. Jackson, Governor 
of British East Africa, presiding, and one hundred and seventy-five 
guests occupying places at the table. 

Captain Sanderson, the town clerk of Nairobi, read an address of 
welcome to the former President of the United States and afterward 
handed him the address inclosed in a section of elephant tusk mounted 
in silver and with a silver chain. 

The American residents of the protectorate presented Mr. Roose- 
velt with a tobacco box made of the hoof of a rhinoceros, silver 
mounted; the skull of a rhinoceros, also mounted in silver, and a 
buffalo head. 

Mr. Roosevelt, in reply to the toast proposed by Governor Jack- 
son, said: 



NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 103 

"I wish to take this opportunity to thank the people of British 
East Africa for their generous and courteous hospitality. I have had 
a thoroughly good time. I am immensely interested in the country and 
its possibilities as an abode for white men. Very large tracts are fit 
for a fine population and healthy and prosperous settlements, and it 
would be a calamity to neglect them. But the settlers must be of the 
right type. 

"I believe that one of the best feats performed by members of the 
white race in the last ten years is the building of the Uganda Railroad. 
I am convinced that this country has a great agricultural and indus- 
trial future and it is the most attractive playground in the world. It 
most certainly presents excellent openings for capitalists, and ample 
inducements should be offered them to come here. The home maker 
and actual settler, and not the speculator, should be encouraged in 
.making this a white man's country. 

"Remember that righteousness and our real ultimate self-interest 
demand that the blacks be treated justly. I have no patience with 
sentimentalists, and I think that sentimentality does more harm to 
individuals than brutality. Therefore I believe in helping the mis- 
sionary, of whatever creed, who is laboring sincerely and disinter- 
estedly with practical good sense. 

"It is natural that I should have a peculiar feeling for the settlers. 
They remind me of the men in our West with whom I worked and in 
whose aspirations I so deeply sympathize." 

In conclusion, Mr. Roosevelt drew a comparison of the conditions 
as he found them in British East Africa with those that confronted 
the pioneers of western America. 

It is hardly what one would expect in this country, in which little 
more than ten years before lions hunted their prey without fear of 
bullets, and white people were confined to a few daring travelers, to 
see long rows of diners in evening dress at a well appointed table, or 
perhaps, on a ball-room floor, to see a company in gay uniforms danc- 
ing with ladies in showy dresses. Verily, civilization has invaded the 
wilds and the days of savage dominion in Africa are nearing an end. 

Mr. Roosevelt's address gives us some idea of the state of affairs 
he found in this seat of the provincial administration, and of the 



io 4 NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 

burning question which occupies the minds of the officials, that of the 
treatment of the natives. Hon. Winston Spencer Churchill tells us 
that: 

"Every white man in Nairobi is a politician; and most of them 
are leaders of parties. One would scarcely believe it possible, that a 
center so new should be able to develop so many divergent and con- 
flicting interests, or that a community so small should be able to give 
to each such vigorous and even vehement expression. There are 
already in miniature all the elements of keen political and racial dis- 
cord, all the materials for hot and acrimonious debate. The white 
man versus the black; the Indian versus both; the settler as against 
the planter; the town contrasted with the country; the official class 
against the unofficial ; the coast and the highlands ; the railway admin- 
istration and the Protectorate generally; the King's African Rifles 
and the East Africa Protectorate Police; all these different points of 
view, naturally arising, honestly adopted, tenaciously held, and not 
yet reconciled into any harmonious general conception, confront the 
visitor in perplexing disarray. Nor will he be wise to choose his part 
with any hurry. It is better to see something of the country, of its 
quality and extent, of its promises and forfeits, of its realities and 
illusions, before endeavoring to form even a provisional opinion." 

On August 9, Colonel Roosevelt, with his son Kermit, Edmund 
Heller, the zoologist of the expedition, and E. J. Cunninghame, the ex- 
perienced naturalist and guide, set out for Nyeri, a government sta- 
tion in the northwest of Kenya province. At the same time Dr. 
Mearns and J. A. Loring, the other members of the expedition, left 
Naivasha for Nairobi to make preparations for the ascent of Mount 
Kenya. Of these places we may say that Nyeri is an important trade 
center of British East Africa. Indian bazaars have been established 
and there are native markets and a small colony of coast traders. The 
neighborhood is the headquarters of the Masai tribe, warlike nomads, 
who inhabit the northwestern plain of Kenya province. 

Mount Kenya is about 17,200 feet in height. It was ascended 
for the first time by Mackinder in 1899. The mountain supports 
numerous glaciers, and its timber line is at 10,300 feet. Formerly a 
volcano, it has long been extinct. Before setting out on this expedi- 



NAIROBI AND MX. KENYA iq S 

tion a large consignment of specimens collected by the party had been 
shipped to the Smithsonian Institution, a second lot being sent to 
Mombasa to be shipped on the steamship Admiral on August 16. The 
casks and cases sent contained skins, bones and skulls of the following- 
animals : Lion, seven ; leopard, one ; cheetah, one ; spotted hyena, one ; 
cape hartebeest, fourteen; white-bearded wildebeest, five; Neumann 
steinbuck, five; Kirk dik-dik, one; common waterbuck, three; Chanler 
reedbuck, four ; Grant gazelle, nine ; Thomson gazelle, five ; eland, one ; 
cape buffalo, four; giraffe, three; hippopotamus, one; wart-hog, six; 
Burchell zebra, seven; black rhinoceros, two; impalla, two. 

The cheetah is similar to a leopard, the wildebeest is the African 
gnoo and the hartebeest, steinbuck, dik-dik, impalla and eland are 
varieties of antelope. The beasts were shot under the licenses granted 
Colonel Roosevelt and his son Kermit, and were packed by Dr. Mearns. 
They formed a principal part of the contribution to science made by 
the expedition, and, variously prepared and preserved, will be of util- 
ity in the study of zoology for many years to come. 

On ascending the slopes of Mount Kenya the Roosevelt party 
found abundant evidence of the rapid progress of civilization in this 
region. The fertile soil of the mountain sides has attracted numbers 
of planters from England, South Africa and elsewhere, and many 
plants suitable to the climate are being cultivated, with promise of 
large yield. 

After crossing the Tana River by aid of a rope ferry, they came 
within view of a most magnificent country. Before them rose in 
majesty Mount Kenya, occupying always the center of the picture, 
but never doing justice to its great height. It rises by long gentle 
slopes, more like a swelling of ground than a peak, from a broad up- 
land plain, and so gradual is the ascent that, but for the sudden out- 
crop of snow-clad rock which crowns the summit, no one would believe 
it over seventeen thousand feet high. It is its gradual rise that imparts 
so great a value to this noble mountain; for about its enormous base 
and upon its slopes, traversed by hundreds of streams of clear, ever- 
flowing water, there grows, or may grow, in successive, concentric 
belts, every kind of crop and forest known in the world, from the 
Equator to the Arctic circle. 



I0 6 NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 

The landscape is superb. In beauty, in fertility, in verdure, in the 
coolness of the air, in the abundance of running water, in its rich red 
soil, in the variety of its vegetation, the scenery about Kenya far sur- 
passes anything to be seen in India or South Africa, and challenges 
comparison with the fairest countries of Europe. 

It is only a few years since regular control was established beyond 
the Tana, not without some bloodshed, by a small military expedition. 
Yet so peaceful are the tribes — now that their intertribal fighting has 
been stopped — that white officers ride freely about among their vil- 
lages without even carrying a pistol. Though the natives met with 
on the road are armed with sword and spear, they all offer their cus- 
tomary salutations, while many come up smiling and holding out their 
hands to shake, till one grows weary of the civility. Indeed, the only 
dangers of the road appear to be from the buffaloes which infest the 
country, and after nightfall place the traveler in real peril. 

As for the lion, unless one encamps in the vicinity of a genuine 
man-eater, there is apparently little to fear. Much as we have been 
accustomed to speak in terms of respect of this "noble" lord of the 
wilds, African hunters frequently describe him in accents of contempt. 
He is never "spoiling for a fight" — at least with man, and unless 
goaded to anger and cut off from retreat, takes care to avoid battle 
with this new and perilous foe. There are those who tell us that if an 
unarmed man comes by chance into close vicinity with a half dozen 
or so of lions, all he need do is to speak to them sternly and they will 
slink away like scolded curs, the more rapidly if he throws a few stones 
at them to hurry up their pace. This course of treatment is highly 
recommended by some Afrikanders under such circumstances, but it 
is doubtful if many of us would care to try the experiment. The 
results of early education cannot but instil in us a certain wholesome 
respect for this powerful and dangerous brute. How Colonel Roose- 
velt would have acted if he had met a half dozen of these tawny prowl- 
ers when unarmed, we are not prepared to say, as he never met even 
with a single one without his trusty rifle in hand. 

Here let us dispel the view which some seem to entertain that the 
tiger is a native of Africa. Even so prominent a statesman — and 
unprominent a naturalist — as Mr. Bryan is on record as speaking of 



NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 107 

the tigers of Africa, and there appear to be others who hold the same 
belief. It ma}' be said, however, that no tiger skin appears among the 
trophies of the Roosevelt expedition and that its leader had no thought 
of adding so great a treasure to his list. If there are any tigers in 
Africa, they have succeeded for centuries in keeping out of sight, and 
had Roosevelt succeeded in bagging such a prize as a genuine African 
tiger, the Smithsonian Institution would have valued it far beyond 
all the other zoological treasures sent to America. 

But while African hunters are not likely to be assailed by tigers 
and have little fear of lions except when these creatures are cornered 
and enraged, there is one brute for which they entertain a wholesome 
respect — the rhinoceros. Letting this great brute alone does not act 
to calm its temper a-nd it is apt to charge the passer-by and seek to 
impale him on its dangerous horn at a moment's notice or without any 
notice at all. The Masai natives, who do not eat and therefore do not 
kill game, fear no wild beast but the rhinoceros. All other creatures, 
if let alone, rarely seek to make an attack on man, but the surly rhi- 
noceros makes absolutely unprovoked charges, and at times gores a 
man before he can get out of the way. By good fortune these huge 
beasts are stupid and short-sighted. They seem able to see nothing 
clearly that is ten yards or more away, and if the hunter perceives a 
charge in time he can easily spring out of the way. Yet while their 
sight is so poor, their sense of smell is remarkably keen, and the hun- 
ter who would successfully cope with the rhinoceros must avoid ap- 
proaching him from the windward side. 

Another tenant of the wilds that is not imprudently to be trifled 
with is the fearless and surly wart-hog. All is right so long as the 
hunter keeps on his horse. But if by any contingency he is unhorsed 
when hunting these animals he runs great risk of receiving a dan- 
gerous wound. 

Pig-sticking — chasing the hog on horseback and bringing it 
down with a spear — is a favorite sport alike in India and East Africa, 
and in both countries it is one in which the fighting powers of the 
animal have seriously to be reckoned with. Certainly no one can 
afford to disdain the courage and ferocity of the African wart-hog. 
And the danger is greatly added to by the roughness of the country it 



io8 NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 

frequents, in which boulders hidden by high grass and deep ant-bear 
holes excavated in the soil keep the hunter in continual danger. 

The risk of the sport consists in the fact that he who would over- 
take and spear one of these animals must do so at full gallop, for they 
are adepts in rapid transit. Yet the hunter must give, his attention 
at once to the ground he is traversing and to the brute he is pursuing. 
When the pig is neared within a few yards, the perils of the ground 
must be neglected and attention given solely to the brute, which may 
turn and charge upon its pursuer at any moment. A stumble of the 
horse and a fall at such a critical instant is very dangerous, as the hog 
would be sure to attack the unhorsed man and seek to rip him up with 
its sharp tusks. In such a crisis the spear is a poor dependence, 
and the hunter would find it serviceable to have, a revolver strapped 
to his thigh — for emergency use. 

To quote a well-known American aphorism : "You do not want a 
pistol often, but when you do, you want it very badly." 

But neglecting for the time being these narratives of hunting 
ventures, let us follow the Roosevelt expedition farther into the land 
and look with the eyes of its members upon the huge brother mountain 
to Mount Kenya, the gigantic Mount Elgon, which lies more to the 
westward. This huge mountain mass is a natural phenomenon of 
great interest. While not so elevated as Mount Kenya — its height be- 
ing about 14,200 feet — it surpasses it greatly, and probably every other 
volcano in the world, in its enormous superficial extent. It is not a 
mountain only; it is a country. Its mass covers an area equal to that 
of the whole of Switzerland. If we could imagine this Alpine land as 
occupied by a single huge mountain mass of great elevation, we would 
gain some definite idea of the size of this mammoth African volcano. 
We may judge something of this when told that its crater alone is 
about thirty miles across. 

Caves, many of them, exist on the sides of this mountain mass at 
an average height of 8,000 feet, they lying at the bottom of abrupt 
terraces. They appear to have arisen in the first place from the action 
of water, and give undue evidence of having been enlarged by the 
hands of man. They undoubtedly have been inhabited during a long 
period of past time. There is reason to believe that Elgon was a great 



NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 109 

center of trade in very ancient times, goods from the Land of Punt 
(Somaliland) in the early Egyptian period reaching Mount Elgon to 
be traded for the products of the negro forest-dwellers. The blue beads 
dug up here, and which are regarded as great rarities, seem to be of 
ancient Egyptian origin, the subjects of the Pharaohs appearing to 
have extended their commerce to this remote region. 

A common feature of the terraced slopes of Mount Elgon are its 
splendid waterfalls, the streams cascading beautifully from the brink 
of the terraces and in nearly every instance covering the entrance to a 
cave. It may be that the cavern was originally the channel of a stream 
which became blocked by an overflow of lava from the crater's lip, the 
stream taking a new course over the cooled lava while its former canyon 
became a cavernous opening. 

We may, passing behind a cascade which leaps down and out 
two hundred feet from the brink of the terrace, find hidden behind it 
the doorway to a dry and commodious natural rock dwelling. The 
stream thus completely masked the dwellings of the ancient cave-man 
from without. Instances may be found in which a rude stockade de- 
fends the entrance, huge stones being piled on top of branching boughs. 
We have reason to believe that the antique cave-men of Europe de- 
fended the openings to their habitations in this manner, and we here 
find the ancient people of Africa adopting the same methods. 

Sir Harry Johnston, in his very interesting paper, "Where Roose- 
velt Will Hunt," gives us the following information about the people 
of the region we have been describing. It is well worth quoting as a 
vivid picture of a series of strange native tribes : 

"The human inhabitants of this part of East Africa mainly belong 
to the fine, handsome Masai race and the peoples of Nandi and Suk 
stock (closely allied in racial origin to the Masai), while in the coast 
regions bordering the Victoria Nyanza there are a few Nilotic and 
Bantu negroes. 

"The Suk natives of the northern part of the Rift Valley, south- 
west of Lake Rudolf, wear no clothes, but devote considerable atten- 
tion to their hair. It is thought an unwomanly thing for the Suk 
women to have hair on the head. The men, however, encourage the 
hair to grow. When the father of a family dies his head-hair is divided 



no NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 

among his sons, and each one weaves his portion into a chignon. In 
this chignon is a hollow bag in which is put all a man's portable pos- 
sessions that he prizes most — his snuff box, ornaments, etc. 

"The Karamojo people who dwell to the west of Lake Rudolf do 
not go in so much for chignons, but their favorite ornament is to make 
a hole through the lower lip and to wear in it the cone of some crystal. 

"Among the dense forests, the game-haunted wilderness, and un- 
frequented plateaux, wanders a mongrel nomad race, the Andorobo, 
who represent a mixture of Nandi, Masai, and some antecedent negro 
race of dwarfish, Bushman stock. These Andorobo reproduce in a 
most striking manner the life which we may suppose to have been led 
by our faraway ancestors or predecessors in the earliest Stone Ages. 
They lead, in fact, very much the life that the most primitive types 
of man led in Great Britain and France in the farback days of big 
animals, possibly before the coming of the glacial periods. They live 
entirely by the chase, often consuming the flesh of birds and beasts 
uncooked. Though they commit considerable devastations among the 
game of the province, they are a picturesque feature when encountered, 
and a striking illustration, handed down through the ages, of the life 
of primitive man not long after he had attained the status of humanity 
and had acquired a knowledge of the simplest weapons. 

"Lake Naivasha, one of the lakes of the Rift Valley, is probably 
the center of a district where President Roosevelt will spend some time, 
because there are some very interesting things to be seen and possibly 
some remarkable animals to be obtained there.* The western side of 
Lake Naivasha has picturesque mountains, which have to be ascended 
by the Uganda Railway, further north than Lake Naivasha, at con- 
siderable difficulty and expense. Here the railroad is carried to an 
altitude of 8,300 feet before it begins to descend the western slope of 
the plateau. 

"Lake Naivasha is almost in the middle of the western Masai 
country. The dwellings of the cattle-keeping Masai are small flat- 
roofed structures. The Masai women are scrupulously clothed, orig- 
inally in dressed skin, but to-day often in cloth. They are sharply dis- 

*It may be said that the ex-President spent considerable time here and had his most 
thrilling adventure on the waters of this lake. This we have elsewhere described. 



NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA in 

tinguished from their husbands and brothers, who very ostentatiously 
wear no clothing for purposes of decency. The Masai have attracted 
a great deal of attention ever since Joseph Thomson, the explorer,, 
together with Dr. Fischer (an equally distinguished explorer of Ger- 
man nationality), laid bare to us Masailand. The Masai have been 
the occasion of terrible havoc throughout East Africa by the attacks 
they made on all settled peoples. At some unknown period in their 
racial career a very great part of the Masai decided they would not 
till the fields any longer, but that they would take away the cattle of 
other tribes not strong enough to resist them. This is one of the rea- 
sons why so many of these beautiful plateaus of the present day are 
absolutely devoid of human inhabitants except a few European settlers 
who have come there. It was not that the negroes objected to the 
climate ; they simply wiped one another out. This process has occurred 
over and over again in many parts of Africa. No one has ever been so 
cruel to the negro as the negro himself. The Masai are now great 
cultivators. 

"Their towns are surrounded by belts of tall trees, mainly acacias, 
some of which must be considerably over a hundred feet in height, with 
green boughs and trunks and ever-present flaky films of pinnated foli- 
age. In the rainy time of the year these trees are loaded with tiny 
golden balls of flowers, like tassels of floss silk, which exhale a most 
delicious perfume of honey. In the plains between the villages Grevy's 
zebra and a few oryz antelopes scamper about, while golden and black 
jackals hunt for small prey in broad daylight, with a constant whim- 
pering. 

"Enormous baboons sit in the branches of the huge trees ready 
to rifle the native crops at the least lack of vigilance on the part of the 
boy guardians. Large herds of cattle and troops of isabella-colored 
donkeys, with broad black shoulder stripes, go out in the morning to 
graze, and return through a faint cloud of dust, which is turned golden 
by the setting sun in the mellow, evening, the cattle lowing and occa- 
sionally fighting, the asses kicking, plunging, and biting one another. 

"After sunset, as the dusk rapidly thickens into night, forms like 
misshapen, ghostly wolves will come from no one knows where, and 
trot about the waste outside the village trees. They are the spotted 



ii2 NAIROBI AND MT. KENYA 

hyenas, tolerated by the Masai because they are the living sepulchres 
of their dead relations. When man, woman or child dies among the 
Masai, agricultural or pastoral, the corpse is placed on the outskirts 
of the settlement for the hyenas to devour at nights. The cry of the 
hyena is not a laugh, as people make out, but a long-drawn falsetto 
wail ending in a whoop. It sounds exactly like what one might imagine 
to be the mocking cry of a ghoul ; and but for the fact that we now find 
that the ghoul myth has a very solid human origin (since there are 
depraved people all over Africa at the present day who have a mania 
for eating corpse-flesh, and this trait may also have cropped out in pre- 
Mohammedan days in Arabia and Persia), one might very well im- 
agine that the idea of the ghoul arose from the hyena, as that of the 
harpy probably did from the vulture. 

"All these people are alike in their love of blood as an article of 
food. They periodically bleed their cattle and drink the blood hot, or 
else mix it with porridge. The women of these tribes do not eat fowls, 
and neither men nor women eat eggs. As among most negro races, 
the men feed alone, and the women eat after the men have done. 

"Honey is a most important article of diet of all the natives in 
this region. In some districts they semi-domesticate the wild bees by 
placing bark cylinders on trees for them to build in. From honey is 
made an intoxicating mead. They also make a wine from the sap of 
the wild date palm. Beer is made from the grain of eleusine and sor- 
ghum. As a general rule fermented liquors are never drunk by the 
young unmarried women or the young men. Both sexes and people 
of all ages use tobacco in one form or another. The fighting men take 
snuff, the old married men chew tobacco, and the old women smoke it. 
The Lumbwa people make tobacco juice by keeping macerated tobacco 
leaves soaked in water in a goat horn slung round the neck. Closing 
one nostril with a finger, they tilt the head on one side, and then pour 
the liquid tobacco juice out of the horn into the other nostril. Both 
nostrils are then pinched for a few minutes, after which the liquid is 
allowed to trickle out. 

"The nomad Andorobo people, besides killing innumerable col- 
obus monkeys in the dense woods of the Mau and Nandi plateaux 
(with poisoned arrows), sally out into the plains of the Rift Valley 



NAIROBI AND AIT. KENYA 113 

or range over the opposite heights following up the elephant, and 
attacking and slaying most of the big antelope. They kill the ele- 
phant very often by shooting into his legs at close quarters a har- 
poon with a detachable and strongly poisoned head. The power- 
ful arrow poison used by the Andorobo and Masai is made from 
the leaves and branches of Acocanthera schimperi. The leaves and 
branches of this small tree are broken up and boiled for about six hours. 
The liquid is then strained and cleared of the fragments of leaves and 
bark. They continue to boil the poisoned water until it is thick and 
viscid, by which time it has a pitch-like appearance. The poison is 
kept until it is wanted on sheets of bark. After they have finished pre- 
paring the poison they carefully rub their hands and bodies free from 
any trace of it with the fleshy, juicy leaves of a kind of sage. 

''The poison is always kept high up on the forks of trees out of 
the reach of children, and the poisoned arrows are never kept in the 
people's huts, but are stowed away in branches. When a beast has 
been shot with these arrows, it dies very quickly. The flesh just around 
the arrowhead is then cut out and thrown away, but all the rest of the 
beast is eaten and its blood is drunk. 

"All these peoples use dogs in hunting, and before starting for the 
chase they are said to give their dogs a drug which makes them fierce. 
They also catch birds with bird-lime. The Nandi go out in large 
numbers to hunt, surround a herd of game in a circle, and then ap- 
proach the animals near enough to kill them with arrows and spears. 

"The people who inhabit the eastern fringe of the plateau develop 
the fashion of the earring to a considerable extent. They begin when 
children to pierce a hole in the lobe of the ear through which they first 
pass a stick of wood the size of a match. This is increased in thickness 
until they succeed in stretching the lobe in the course of years into a 
huge loop. It is interesting to know that in some of the old Egyptian 
accounts of the Land of Punt (which we take to be somewhere near 
Somaliland, in northeast Africa), they mentioned people with ears that 
hung down to. their shoulders. Obviously they are describing the 
people of Somaliland as they existed 3,000 or 4,000 years ago. Some 
of them have a physiognomy rather similar to the Hamitic people of 
the north, not altogether negroes.'' 



CHAPTER XIII 

Westward to Lake Victoria Nyanza 

WEST of Nairobi the scenery is more magnificent than on the 
journey from Mombasa. The train has been ascending the 
high plateau for sixty miles by a series of wooded slopes to 
a height of over 6,000 feet. Then the ground falls away apparently 
more than 2,000 feet, almost like a precipice. Farther than the eye 
can see the Kikuyu Escarpment stretches away as straight as a ruler 
to right and left. The train zig-zags downward along its western face, 
opening vistas of a wonderful panorama. Far below, the level surface 
of the plain is broken by volcanic hills and extinct craters, and in the 
far distance the opposite wall appears dimly like the other side of a 
gigantic trough. 

Lake Naivasha lies on the route, about ten miles square, with the 
rim of a submerged crater making a crescent-shaped island in its 
middle. The water is brackish and thronged with wild fowl and hip- 
popotami. Ex-President Roosevelt had an exciting experience on this 
lake when he went out in a row-boat to hunt hippos. At some distance 
from the land about twenty of these monsters surrounded him, and the 
fearless sportsman was in great danger for a time. The enraged ani- 
mals charged upon the boat and nearly succeeded in overturning it. 
The native rowers became frightened, and it was the presence of mind 
and courage of Mr. Roosevelt that prevented disaster. He shot two 
of the beasts and succeeded in frightening the rest of the drove away, 
so that a launch which was sent out from shore to their rescue found 
their chief safe and victorious. The bodies of the two victims were 
towed to shore and added to the collection which the party was making 
for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. 

The government stock farm at Naivasha proved to be of very great 
interest. Official experimenters are here crossing breeds to produce 
domestic animals adapted to the climate and country, and at the same 

(114) 



WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 115 

time producing breeds which compare in profitability with those raised 
in better circumstances. The hump of the African ox, for instance, 
disappears in the first generation, and in the next he more nearly 
resembles the European animal. By supplying settlers and natives 
with stock improved in this way, it is expected that the herds will be 
multiplied many times in value. 

The same may be said of the sheep, which has been similarly im- 
proved. In the various flocks visible may be seen the native breed, 
the half-bred, three-quarter bred and full bred English, the improve- 
ment visible being surprisingly great, That Mr. Roosevelt was thor- 
oughly interested in this transformation goes without saying. He 
saw specimens of the native sheep, rough and hairy, to the untrained 
eye looking more like a goat than a sheep. Yet this undeveloped 
animal, when crossed with the Sussex or the improved Australian type, 
becomes a woolly beast that is very evidently a sheep. A second cross 
makes another great improvement, and soon the breeder has a flock 
that it is hard to distinguish from those of English fields, yet one that 
is better adapted to the sun and clime of Africa. 

In this way a remarkable change is produced alike in the ox and 
the sheep. The purpose of the experimental farm is not only to produce 
an improved type adapted to the conditions of the locality, but also to 
supply the farmers with blooded animals which will add greatly to 
the value of their flocks. This work is prosecuted with the greatest 
zeal and enthusiasm, though the experimenters are hampered by want 
of funds and seriously troubled by the ravages of the East Coast fever. 

This malady, to which their animals are very subject, came into 
the province from German East Africa several years ago, and is grad- 
ually spreading despite all efforts to check it. A cow attacked by it 
will live thirty days or more, during which the ticks which attack it 
are infected with the poisons of the disease and transmit it to other 
cattle which may pass over the same ground. Experiment has shown 
that the ticks hold the virulent disease germs for a year, and in that 
time they may infect many animals. 

Thus the efforts of the stock-breeders are largely negatived. Left 
to themselves the natives would be helpless and the disease spread 
until all their cattle were exterminated. But that is not the way with 



n6 WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NY AN Z A 

the trained scientists of the Department of Agriculture. One way to 
clear the ground of its poison is to put sheep upon it, which are not 
harmed by the poison from the tick. Others are to divide the country 
up into fields by wire fencing, and thus keep the cattle within unin- 
fected areas; to destroy suspected animals; to search for remedies to 
the disease, and to bring to play upon the evil all the resources of mod- 
ern science. 

But let us continue our journey to the great African lake — the 
Victoria Nyanza. Long before reaching Naivasha we left behind us 
the highland region and descended the steep Kikuyu Escarpment, the 
lofty and precipitous eastern wall of the Rift Valley. Crossing this 
wonderfully fertile valley, we reach the opposite wall, the Mau Escarp- 
ment, the lofty western ridge, up which the train creeps with as much 
difficulty as it had met with in descending the opposite wall. Through- 
out this whole region the railway is engaged in a constant battle with 
the luxuriant forces of vegetable nature in the tropics. Over the line 
hang great trees. The cuttings are invaded by multitudinous creepers, 
which trail downwards, covering the embankments, and seeking inces- 
santly to bury the roadway. Every neglected clearing is quickly taken 
captive by these swift-growing plants. Only for the ceaseless care 
with which the line is cleared and weeded it would soon be overrun. 
If abandoned for a year it would be difficult to discover where it ran. 

Wood is superabundant, coal is lacking, and the road is run 
entirely with wood fuel. Natives are kept constantly at work picking 
away at the trees with their native choppers, a feeble substitute for the 
American axe. It is a slow, wearisome and costly way of providing 
the engine furnaces with fuel. A steam-plant, to cut down and cut up 
the trees, would replace these slow-going native wood-butchers at a 
fraction of their cost and a shadow of their trouble. Doubtless this 
will ere long be introduced, but at present the "chop, chop, chop," of 
the hundreds of natives is all one hears. 

The valley level is left and we are now crawling up the Mau Es- 
carpment, getting steadily higher and finding changes in the aspect 
of the country as we advance. The forest through which we have 
long rolled onward, begins to give way to rolling hills covered with 
grass. And the odd feature of this is that there is no border of scat- 



WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NY AN Z A 117 

tered trees or straggling brushwood. The woodland ends abruptly 
and the fields of grass run up to its very edge. Nature seems to do 
here what art does elsewhere, to produce a park-like effect. 

The top of the escarpment reached, at an elevation of about 8,300 
feet, the highest level of the railway is attained. Thence it descends 
gradually to its terminus on the shores of the great lake, the waters 
of which may be seen from the top of a hill which looms upward about 
five hundred feet above the line. We are now again out of the tropic 
lowlands and in the lofty highlands, out of the steaming atmosphere, 
and in the crisp, chill upper air. Instead of shirt sleeves one instinc- 
tively turns to the comfortable overcoat. 

But as we go onward, down a steady slope, the overcoat is soon 
thrown off again, and mile by mile the train descends to tropic warmth, 
until, by the time the lake shore is reached, we find ourselves in a warm 
and damp tropical climate. Not that the lake lies at a low level. It 
occupies an elevation 4,000 feet above the sea. But the 4,000 feet we 
have descended to reach it makes a most perceptible change in the cli- 
matic conditions. The goal which we have had so long in view, Kis- 
umu, or Port Florence, is attained, and we see stretching before us 
like an island sea the waters of the great lake which we have sought 
so long. 

Port Florence is not the best terminus that could have been 
selected for the Uganda Railway, the location being unhealthy, partly 
from its climatic conditions and partly from the tendency of the sewage 
to accumulate in the shallow inlet. The natural terminus would have 
been at Port Victoria, where there is much deeper water. The ques- 
tion of cost prevented the railway from reaching this point, but this 
will have to be done eventually, unless the whole lake is deepened by a 
dam across its outlet at Ripon Falls. 

The landing from the railway train at Port Florence is, fortu- 
nately, not the end of civilized rapid transit in this region. From the 
wharf one may step on board a steamboat of spacious proportions and 
as neat and perfect in its appointments as if its port of entry was 
New York or Liverpool. Its low and wide decks are kept spotlessly 
clean ; the crew, though of ebony complexion, are smartly dressed and 
very efficient under the command of skilled British officers; the table 



n8 WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NY AN Z A 

is excellent, there is a well-furnished library, together with baths, 
electric lights and all needed conveniences. 

Those who find themselves on board this modern ship in the 
depths of the late savage Africa, certainly have reason to bless their 
lucky stars that they are not confined to the crude former methods of 
navigation on this magnificent inland sea. Darting along at a speed 
of ten miles an hour upon a great freshwater lake as large as the 
whole of Scotland, and at an elevation higher than that of Scotland's 
highest mountains, was a pleasant sensation worth the journey to expe- 
rience. With cool air and splendid scenery, except when out of sight 
of land and environed only by sea and sky, they certainly had reason 
to enjoy the trip. Now beautiful islands surrounded them, now they 
glided past forested coasts with blue mountains rising in the distance, 
now other scenes of varied beauty attracted them, and all this in the 
heart of Africa, on the line of the Equator, and at an elevation of four 
thousand feet above the sea. Certainly it was an experience greatly 
to be enjoyed and long to be remembered. 

Voyagers on the lake, except those intent on geographical dis- 
covery, do not follow it for its entire length or trace the extended line 
of its coast waters, but simply cross its northern waters to the port 
of Entebbe on its northeastern side. This is the administrative center 
of the British Protectorate of Uganda, an interesting country with 
which we must deal in a chapter by itself. In the present one our 
interest lies in the lake itself. 

This immense body of water, an inland sea occupying a large sec- 
tion of east central Africa, is notable not alone for its size and for 
its high elevation, but is of the highest interest for another reason, 
since it is the source of one of the greatest and most famous rivers 
of the world, the historic and world-renowned Nile, the stream which 
has made Egypt and to which Egypt has given fame and glory. The 
source of this grand river was long unknown. It was traced farther 
and farther into Africa, travelers following southward step by step 
through endless hardships and difficulties. Still it held its own, a 
broad, deep stream, evidently coming from a great distance, but its 
origin was not discovered until about fifty years ago, when Captain 
John H. Speke reached the great lake which he named Victoria 
Nyanza, in honor of the English queen. 



WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA n 9 

This signal discovery was made on the the ioth of July, 1858, 
at the end of a long and toilsome journey which he had made with 
Captain Richard F. Burton from Zanzibar. Speke was satisfied in his 
own mind that this great lake was the source of the great river whose 
origin had long excited so much interest, and on his return home suc- 
ceeded in inducing the Royal Geographical Society to send him out 
on a second exploring expedition to this interesting region. 

Setting out in i860 with another British officer, Captain Grant, 
he found himself in the summer of 1862 again gazing on the noble 
lake, and being confident now, from information received from the 
natives, that the Nile flowed from the northern end of the Victoria 
Nyanza, he set out in search of its outlet. Success now attended his 
efforts, and on the 21st of July he reached the river whose source had 
been sought so long and with such ardent enthusiasm. 

His discovery of its outlet from the lake is a story replete with 
interest. The northern shore of the lake is long and broken, being 
diversified by hundreds of gulfs and inlets, with nothing to distin- 
guish one from the other. No current is felt until within a few miles 
of the falls, and the explorers might have searched the lake for a year 
without discovering the spot. Yet as he drifted and paddled over 
its broad surface a slight increase was felt in the pace of his canoe and 
a far-off murmur told him of the nearness of the place he sought, 
that in which the waters of the lake were drawn into the mighty river. 

We give in his own words the story of how he finally reached the 
much-sought-f or stream : 

"Here at last," he writes, "I stood on the brink of the Nile; most 
beautiful was the scene, nothing could surpass it ! It was the very per- 
fection of the kind of effect aimed at in a highly kept park ; with a mag- 
nificent stream from six hundred to seven hundred yards wide, dotted 
with islets and rocks, the former occupied by the fishermen's huts, 
the latter by many crocodiles basking in the sun, flowing between 
fine grassy banks, with rich trees and plantations in the background, 
where herds of the hartebeest could be seen grazing, while the hippo- 
potami were snorting in the water, and florikin and guinea-fowl rising 
at our feet." 

They proceeded up the left bank of the Nile, at some distance 



123 WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NY AN Z A 

from the stream, passing through rich jungle and plantain gardens, 
and reached the Isamba Rapids on the 25th of July. The river is 
here extremely beautiful. The water runs between deep banks which 
are covered with fine grass, soft cloudy acacias, and festoons of lilac 
convolvuli. On the 28th, they reached Ripon Falls, after a long march 
over rough hills, and through extensive village plantations lately 
devastated by elephants. But they were well rewarded, for the falls 
were the most interesting sight that Speke had yet seen in Africa. 
"Everybody," he says, "ran to see them at once, though the march 
had been long and fatiguing, and even my sketch-book was called 
into play. Though beautiful, the scene was not exactly what I 
expected; for the broad surface of the lake was shut out from view 
by a spur of hill, and the falls, about 12 feet deep, and 400 to 500 feet 
broad, were broken by rocks. Still it was a sight that attracted one 
to it for hours — the roar of the waters, the thousands of passenger- 
fish, leaping at the falls with all their might, the Wasoga and Waganda 
fishermen coming out in boats and taking post on all the rocks, with 
rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water, 
the ferry at work above the falls, and cattle driven down to drink at 
the margin of the lake, made, in all, with the pretty nature of the 
country — small hills, grassy-topped, with trees in the folds, and gar- 
dens on the lower slopes — as interesting a picture as one could wish 
to see." 

"The expedition," he adds, "had now performed its functions. 
I saw that Old Father Nile without any doubt rises in the Victoria 
Nyanza, and, as I had foretold, that lake is the great source of the 
holy river which cradled the first expounder of our religious belief. 
I mourned, however, when I thought how much time I had lost by 
the delays in the journey which had deprived me of the pleasure of 
going to look at the northeast corner of the Nyanza to see what con- 
nection there was, by a strait frequently spoken of, between it and 
the other lake where the Waganda went to get their salt, and from 
which another river flowed to the north, making 'Usoga an island/ 
But I felt I ought to be content with what I had been spared to accom- 
plish, for I had seen full half of the lake, and had information given 
me of the other half, by means of which I knew all about the lake, as 



HIPPOPOTAMUS DEFENI 

The Roosevelt party secured specimens of this leviathan, 
beneath the water four to six minutes at one time. 




The name means River Horse. It can remain 
The hide is thick and chiefly used for whips 




AN ELEPHANT HUNT 
A fate which sometimes overtakes the hunter 



!■:'"■ 









ELEPHANT AND RHINOCEROS IN BATTLE 

Both these animals were found in the course of Roosevelt's travels, and both belong to the class called Pachyderms, 

or thick-skinned animals. The tusks of the one and horn of the other are dangerous weapons 



WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NY AN Z A 121 

far, at least, as the chief objects of geographical importance were 
concerned. Let us now sum up the whole and see what it is worth. 
Comparative information assured me that there was as much water 
on the eastern side of the lake as there is on the western — if anything, 
rather more. The most remote water, or top head of the Nile, is the 
southern end of the lake, situated close on the third degree of south 
latitude, which gives the Nile the surprising length, in direct meas- 
urement, rolling over thirty-four degree's of latitude, of above two 
thousand three hundred miles, or more than one-eleventh of the cir- 
cumference of our globe." 

The cataract by which the Nile leaves its parent lake was named 
by the discoverer, Ripon Falls, in honor of the President of the 
Royal Geographical Society, and the area of water from which it 
issued he named Napoleon Channel, out of respect to the French Geo- 
graphical Society, which had presented him its gold medal in honor 
of his discovery of the lake. 

Since this day the source of the Nile has been frequently visited 
and Ripon Falls looked upon by hundreds of tourists, among them 
the members of the Roosevelt expedition. Many descriptions of it 
might be quoted, of which a brief and graphic one is the following 
from the pen of Winston Spencer Churchill: 

"Although the cataract is on a moderate scale, both in height and 
volume, its aspect — and still more its situation — is impressive. The 
exit or overflow of the Great Lake is closed by a natural rampart or 
ridge of black rock, broken or worn away in two main gaps to release 
the waters. Through these the Nile leaps at once into majestic being, 
and enters upon its course as a perfect river three hundred yards 
wide. Standing upon the reverse side of the wall of the rock, one's 
eye may be almost on a plane with the shining levels of the lake. At 
your feet, literally a yard away, a vast green slope of water races 
downward. Below are foaming rapids, fringed by splendid trees, 
and pools from which great fish leap continually in the sunlight" 

At the output, on the lake shore, has grown up a town with the 
unmusical name of Jinja, of which Mr. Churchill writes : 

"Jinta is destined to become a very important place in the future 
economy of Central Africa. Situated at the point where the Nile 



122 WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 

flows out of the Great Lake, it is at once on the easiest line of water 
communication with Lake Albert and the Soudan, and also a place 
where great waterpower is available. In years to come the shores 
of this splendid bay may be crowned with long rows of comfortable 
tropical villas and imposing offices, and the gorge of the Nile crowded 
with factories and warehouses. There is power enough to gin all 
the cotton and saw all the wood in Uganda, and it is here that one 
of the principal emporia of tropical produce will certainly be created. 
In these circumstances it is a pity to handicap the town with an out- 
landish name. It would be much better to call it Ripon Falls, after 
the beautiful cascades which lie beneath it, and from whose force its 
future prosperity will be derived. 

"The Ripon Falls are, for their own sake, well worth a visit. 
The Nile springs, out of the Victoria Nyanza, a vast body of water 
nearly as wide as the Thames at Westminster Bridge, and this impos- 
ing river rushes down a stairway of rock from fifteen to twenty feet 
deep, in smooth, swirling slopes of green water. It would be per- 
fectly easy to harness the whole river and let the Nile begin its long 
and beneficent journey to the sea by leaping through a turbine. It 
is possible that nowhere else in the world could so enormous a mass 
of water be held up by so little masonry. Two or three short dams 
from island to island across the falls would enable, at an incon- 
ceivably small cost, the whole level of the Victoria Nyanza — over 
an expanse of a hundred and fifty thousand square miles — to be gradu- 
ally raised six or seven feet; would greatly increase the available 
water-power; would deepen the water in Kavirondo Bay, so as to 
admit steamers of much larger draught; and, finally, would enable 
the lake to be maintained at a uniform level, sO that immense areas 
of swampy foreshore, now submerged, now again exposed, according 
to the rainfalls, would be converted either into clear water or dry 
land." 

As we have described the natives of the Rift Valley, a brief 
account, from the pen of Sir Harry Johnston, of some of those who 
dwell in the vicinity of the Great Lake will not be without interest. 
Those who reach this region before civilization has done away with 
the customs of its native inhabitants "will see before them coal-black 



WESTWARD TO LAKE VICTORIA NYANZA 123 

handsomely formed negroes and negresses without a shred of cloth- 
ing, though with many adornments in the way of hippopotamus teeth, 
bead necklaces, earrings, and leglets of brass. They are very pictur- 
esque as they strut about the streets in their innocent nudity, decked 
with barbaric ornaments. 

"The men wear not one earring, but fifteen! Holes are pierced 
all round the outer edge of the ear, and in these are inserted brass 
fillets, like melon seeds in shape, to which are attached coarse blue 
beads of large size and dull appearance. These beads the knowing 
tourist should collect while they can be purchased, as they are of 
mysterious origin and great interest. They have apparently reached 
this part of the world from Nubia in some very ancient trading inter- 
course between Egypt and these countries of the upper Nile. As the 
figures thus exhibited are usually models for a sculptor, this nudity 
is blameless and not to be discouraged; moreover, it characterizes 
the most moral people in the Uganda protectorate. 

"This ebon statuary lives in pretty little villages, which are clus- 
ters of straw huts (glistening gold in the sun's rays), encircled with 
fences of aloes, which have red, green, and white mottled leaves, and 
beautiful columns and clusters of coral-red stalks and flowers. There 
are a few shady trees that from their appearance might very well be 
elms but are not, and some extraordinary euphorbias, which grow 
upright with the trunk of a respectable tree and burst into uncounted 
sickly green spidery branches. Herds of parti-colored goats and 
sheep, and cattle that are black and white and fawn color, diversify 
these surroundings with their abrupt patches of light and color. 

"They belong to the better class of Bantu negroes, of that 
immense group of African peoples which has dominated the whole 
southern third of Africa from the regions of the White Nile and 
Victoria Nyanza to the upper Congo, Kamarun, Zanzibar and Zulu- 
land." 



CHAPPTER XIV. 

Beautiful Uganda 

WHEN the traveler in the "dark continent" crosses the great 
East African lake, Victoria Nyanza, and lands at the port 
of Entebbe, he finds himself on the threshold of one of the 
most fertile and beautiful kingdoms in the dark continent, lovely 
Uganda. This was formerly the seat of the most remarkable of the 
African native governments, and is now of as remarkable a colonial 
realm, for the old governmental system has been left unchanged under 
the shadow of the British protectorate. What the British have 
brought are the blessings of peace, of civilized habits, of education 
and Christian teaching; while no burden of foreign rule rests upon 
the neck of the natives, whose old system persists unchanged. 

What is to be found there can best be indicated by a brief descrip- 
tion of this singular civilization in the heart of East Africa. Extend- 
ing westward and northward from the Victoria Nyanza, reaching 
to and embracing the Albert Nyanza, and traversed by the upper 
channel of the Nile, Uganda is an extensive equatorial realm, its 
administrative capital of Entebbe lying nearly on the Equator, yet its 
elevation of from 2,000 to 4,000 feet gives it a partly temperate 
climate, while its vegetation has all the regal luxuriance of the 
tropics. 

Nowhere else in Africa is there a region to be compared in charm 
and attractiveness with Uganda. Different from all others in scenery, 
in vegetation, and in the character and condition of its people, it 
stands alone. In reaching it by sail, we leave the breezy uplands 
lying east of the great lake and enter a garden spot of the tropics. 
Entebbe glows with floral beauty — violet, yellow, purple and crimson 
blooms. Plants and trees of beautiful form and color grow in pro- 
fusion, before the Government House is a stretch of level green lawn, 
and in the distance the great blue lake and purple hills attract the 

(124) 



BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 125 

eyes, while the soft, cool air seems to belong to climes far removed 
from the tropics. 

Such is Uganda, from end to end a charming garden spot, where 
food grows in abundance with the least quota of labor, and anything 
which can be grown anywhere seems to grow more luxuriantly here. 
The soil is phenomenally rich. Cotton yields an abundant product, 
and its other useful plants include coffee, tea, coca, vanilla, cocoa, 
cinnamon, oranges, lemons, pineapples', rubber, and other native or 
introduced fruits and products. Among these, of course, must be 
named the banana, that most productive food plant of the tropics, 
yielding more nutriment with less care and labor than any other 
vegetable production of the earth. From an agricultural point of 
view the banana groves form the distinguishing feature of Uganda, 
the plant being indispensable to the inhabitants. It supplies him not 
only with a nourishing vegetable pulp and a dessert fruit, but also 
with sweet beer and heady spirits, with soap, plates, dishes, napkins, 
and even materials for foot bridges. 

Passing along the road from Entebbe to Kampala, the native 
capital, one gets an idea of the delightful aspect of the country and 
also of its wealth of useful products. On both sides of the road, 
along its whole length, extends a double avenue of young rubber 
trees, and back of these are broad fields of cotton, beautiful alike when 
in flower or when snowy white with expanded bolls. It is said that 
the cotton grown here, from American upland seed, commands a 
higher price in the Manchester market than the same variety of cotton 
from the United States. 

We cannot do better here than quote a description of some inter- 
esting features of Uganda scenery and life from Sir Harry John- 
ston's "Where Roosevelt Will Hunt," in the "National Geographic 
Magazine" : 

"There is a remarkable similarity about all the landscapes in 
Uganda. There are rolling, green downs rising in places almost into 
the mountains and every valley in between is a marsh. This marsh is 
often concealed by a splendid tropical forest. Sometimes, however, it 
is open to the sky, and the water is hidden from sight by dense- 
growing papyrus. 



i26 BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 

"The broad native roads make as straight as possible for their 
mark, like the roads of the Romans, and, to the tired traveler, seem 
to pick out preferentially the highest and steepest hills, which they 
ascend perpendicularly and without compromise. 

"The road is as broad as an English country road, quite different 
from the ordinary African path (which is barely the breadth of the 
space occupied by men walking in single file). On either side of 
the road the grass grows high, perhaps to heights of seven or eight 
feet, but it is interspersed with gayer-flowering plants and shrubs. 
The road ascends a steep hill through this country of luxuriant grass. 
The hilltop reached and the descent begun, the traveler sees before 
him a broad marsh in the valley below. The descent to this marsh 
is possibly so abrupt that it is deemed wiser to get off the horse or 
mule and leave that beast to slither down sideways. 

"Looking on either side as the marsh is being crossed, the trav- 
eler will notice first of all the gigantic papyrus, which may be growing 
as high as fifteen feet above the water and interspersed amongst 
papyrus roots are quantities of fern, of amaranth, or "love-lies-a-bleed- 
ing," and the gorgeous red-purple Dissotis flowers, a yellow composite 
like a malformed daisy, and large masses of pink or lavender-colored 
Pent as. There are also sages and mints which smell strongly of 
peppermint, and a rather handsome plant with large white bracts and 
small mauve flowers. 

"In and out of this marsh vegetation flit charming little finches 
of the waxbill type. One of them is particularly beautiful, with a 
body of black, white, and dove color and a crimson back. The next 
ascent of the inevitable hill which succeeds the marsh may lead one 
through a more wooded country, where, among many other flowering 
shrubs, grows a species of mallow (Abutilon), with blush-pink flowers 
in clusters, like dog-roses in general appearance. 

"The forests and marshes of Uganda abound in remarkable 
monkeys and brilliantly colored birds to a degree not common else- 
where in tropical Africa; but the Kingdom of Uganda, as may be 
imagined from its relatively dense population — a population once 
much thicker than to-day — has been to a great extent denuded of its 
big game, and it is unlikely the President will spend much time there. 



BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 



127 



"Some of the forest trees of Uganda offer magnificent displays 
of flowers. There is one, the Spathodea, with crimson-scarlet flowers 
larger than a breakfast cup and not very dissimilar in shape. These 
flowers grow in bunches like large bouquets, and when in full blossom 
one of these trees aflame with red light is a magnificent spectacle. 
Other trees present at certain seasons of the year a uniform mass of 
lilac- white flowerets, as though they had been powdered from above 
with a lavender-colored snow. 

"The india-rubber trees and lianas have white flowers, large 
and small, with yellow centers exhaling a delicious scent like jas- 
mine, but the blossom of one of these rubber trees is vivid scarlet. 
The Lonchocarpus trees have flowers in color and shape like the Wis- 
taria; from the branches of the lofty eriodendrons depend, on thread- 
like stalks, huge dull crimson flowers composed of innumerable 
stamens surrounded by thick carmine petals. The Erythrina trees 
on the edge of the forest seldom bear leaves and flowers at the same 
time. When in a leafless state they break out into a crimson-scarlet 
efflorescence of dazzling beauty. The Pterocarpus trees have large 
flowers of sulphur-yellow. 

"Many creepers have blossoms of orange, of greenish-white, 
pink, and mauve. Some trees or creepers (Combretum racemosum) 
are like the Bougainvillia, throwing out wreaths and veils and cas- 
cades of the most exquisite mauve or red-violet, where the color is 
given by bracts, the flower itself being crimson and of small size. 

"Blue alone appears to be missing from this gamut of color in 
the forest flow r ers, though it is frequently present among herbaceous 
shrubs or plants growing close to the ground, and, so far as the 
trees are concerned, is often supplied by the beautiful species of 
turaco that particularly affect the forest, and by large high-flying 
butterflies. 

"Whatever may be the case in the Congo basin, where the 
forests often appear sadly lifeless, the woodlands of Uganda are full 
of color and noise from the birds, beasts, and insects frequenting 
them. Monkeys are singularly bold and frequently show themselves. 
There is the black-white colobus with the long plume-tail which 
has been already described; there is a large greenish-black Cerco- 



I2 8 BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 

pithecus, and another species of the same genus which is known as 
the White-nosed monkey. This is a charming creature of bright 
colors — chestnut, blue-black, yellow-green, and gray, with a snow- 
white tip to its nose. I believe its specific name is rufoviridis. Bright- 
colored turacos are even more abundant in these Uganda forests, and 
there are green and red love-birds, gray parrots with scarlet tails, 
and the usual barbets, hornbills, shrikes, fly-catchers, bee-eaters, roll- 
ers — all of them birds of bright plumage or strange form. 

"There are other forest creatures that are not harmless sources 
of gratification to the eye. Lying among the dead leaves on the 
path may be the dreaded purT-adder, with its beautiful carpet-pattern 
of pinkish-gray, black, lemon-yellow, and slaty blue, and with its 
awful head containing poison glands more rapidly fatal than those 
perhaps of any other viper. 

"Numerous pythons, from fifteen to twenty feet in length (gener- 
ally disinclined to attack human beings, however), are coiled on the 
branches of the trees, or hang by their tails like a pendent branch', 
swaying to and fro in the wind. Their checkered patterns of brown 
and white are rendered very beautiful sometimes by the bloom of 
iridescence which imparts rainbow colors into the scales when the 
skin is new. 

"The natives think nothing of laying hold of the wild python, 
who may perhaps have coiled himself up in some hole, and however 
much the snake hisses and protests, it seldom seems to bite. Yet 
these snakes could crush a man between their folds, and do crush 
and devour numbers of sheep and goats. They seem, however, very 
loath to attack mankind and will allow extraordinary liberties to be 
taken with them. The vividly painted pufT-adders are as common as 
the pythons, and although their bite is absolutely deadly, they, too, 
seem too sluggish to attack unless by some blunder you tread on 
them and wait to see the consequences. 

"Therefore the snakes are far less an annoyance or an impedi- 
ment to the exploration of these forests than the biting ants. These 
creatures are a veritable plague in moist, hot regions where there is 
abundant vegetation. I suppose they are sometimes at home and resi- 
dent in their underground labyrinths, but they are a restless folk, 



BE A U TIFUL UGANDA 



129 



forever seemingly on the line of march. They traverse forest paths 
in all directions along causeways of their own, worn in the soil by 
the passage of their thousands. 

"When you come across one of these armies of ants in motion, 
on either side of the main stream, which is perhaps only half an inch 
broad, there may be a couple of feet of biting warriors in a swarming 
mass on either side of the rapidly marching army of workers carry- 
ing pupse. Sentinels are out far and wide in all directions, and if 
you pause anywhere within a few feet of this marching body of ants 
you will very soon feel the consequences in a series of painful nips 
as though from red-hot pincers. These warrior ants know no fear. 
They attack any creature which comes near their line of march, 
burying their powerful mandibles in the flesh, and will then let the 
head be torn from the body sooner than give way. 

"One prominent feature in the landscape of Entebbe, and in fact 
of much of southern Uganda, are the lofty incense-trees (Pachy lobus). 
These grow to a great height and are perennially covered with a rich 
green pinnate foliage. The rugose trunk of thick girth sweats a 
whitish gum, which, scraped off and burnt on hot coals, produces the 
smoke of fragrant incense. These trees produce at certain seasons 
of the year enormous quantities of blue-black plums, which are the 
favorite food of gray parrots, violet plantain-eaters, and the great 
blue Corythocola, besides monkeys and hornbills. Wherever, there- 
fore, there is one of these trees growing those who live in the neigh- 
borhood may enjoy all day long the contemplation of the gorgeous 
plumage of .these birds, the antics and cries of the parrots, and the 
wild gambols of the monkeys." 

Let us now take a glance at the people who inhabit this rich realm 
of Uganda — the happy people we would say, but for a fact with which 
we have yet to deal. On the opposite side of the Victoria Lake we 
passed through the tribe of the Kavirondos, a people who have a de- 
cided objection to the wearing of clothes, preferring the primitive sim- 
plicity of nature to all the allurements of fashion. As for their man- 
ners and customs, they have none other than such base shreds of 
manners as savages usually possess. 

Landing at Entebbe, with not many miles of water between, we 



i 3 o BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 

seem to be on another planet. The inhabitants are blacks, but blacks 
of a different type. Here is to be seen a polite, well-clad, genial and 
intelligent people, with a fully organized government. They have 
their king, their parliament and a powerful feudal system; with a 
court, ministers and nobles ; laws and courts ; industry, peace and edu- 
cation. It gives us a new idea to learn that more than two hundred 
thousand of these ebon natives are able to read and write. This they 
owe to the devoted labors of a large body of earnest missionaries, 
who have made Christianity the state religion of Uganda. 

Such is the status of the Baganda nation, and its governmental 
system is of old date. The native government which now exists has 
persisted for at least several centuries, and though now under the Brit- 
ish flag, the old system has not been disturbed", except to correct the 
abuses that had crept in. Safe now from attack by external enemies 
or rebellious outbreaks, all goes on swimmingly. The present king, 
Daudi Cehewa, is a half-grown boy; but, surrounded by his officers 
of state, he presides at the meetings of his council and parliament, the 
prime minister, Sir Apolo Kagwar, being the power behind the throne. 

Associated with this political organization, and with the control- 
ling authority of the British officials, is a system of missionary labor 
on an unequaled scale. The workers are of different nations and 
different churches, yet are united in their charitable labors, working 
together with none of the discord which has at times attended the 
endeavors of different sects in a single field. At Kampala, the native 
capital, may be seen on different elevations a Protestant cathedral, a 
Catholic mission, and a White Father's monastery, each engaged in 
the same good work in harmony. 

Dressed in their long white robes, the Baganda people carry their 
native politeness to an extreme. Sir Harry Johnstone has well called 
them "the Japanese of Africa." Their system of friendly salutations 
approaches the ludricrous in its elaborate expressions of regard. Two 
Bagandas meeting begin to salute each other while still yards asunder. 

"How are you?" cries one. 

"Who am I that you should care to know?" asks the second. 

"Humble though I be, yet I have dared to ask," rejoins the first. 

"But tell me first how are you?" requests the second. 



BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 



131 



"The better for the honor you have done me," is the ceremonious 
reply. 

"The honor is mine and I shall treasure it." 

By this time they have passed each other, and their expressions 
of polite good-will die away as they go on. Of course the dialogue 
may be greatly varied, but the above will suffice for an example. 

Happiness is easily conferred on a Baganda. Simply say to a 
native, "Way wally" ("splendidly well done"), likely enough he will 
fall upon his knees, clasp his hands together and sway them from 
side to side, while his face beams with the gladdest of smiles, and he 
purrs forth his delight as if to say, "You have filled to overflowing 
my cup of joy." 

Yet we must not take this as indicating servility. It is simply 
the Baganda idea of good manners. The people are not wanting in 
self-respect, and while yielding to the constituted authorities, do so 
without loss of dignity. Yet it adds an idea of a new type to our con- 
ceptions of the native African to find a nation of blacks with exagger- 
ated forms of greeting similar to those prevailing in China and Japan. 

And they do not end with verbal signs of good-will, but are 
kindly in nature and extremely hospitable. Sir Harry Johnstone tells 
us that when he traversed their kingdom, he would be met by hun- 
dreds of people, sent by the local chiefs, and each bearing a bunch of 
bananas. In some instances cows, goats or sheep would be sent. They 
would go so far as to send spies into his camp to find out his tastes. 
In this way they learned that he was very fond of tea between five 
and six o'clock in the afternoon. Then, judging from his time of 
starting what point he would reach at this hour, a resting place would 
be prepared near the road, a table set, and a clean cloth spread on it. 
At the proper time the kettle would be set boiling, and when he ap- 
peared near by the tea would be poured out and handed to him in a 
shady arbor. 

In his opinion the Bahima — the aristocracy of Western Uganda 
— may be descended from the people of ancient Egypt or bear some 
affinity to them. Though black in complexion and with negro hair, 
their profile is of the Caucasian type, and the indication is that a people 
of Hamitic race gradually made their way southward, infused their 



% 3 2 BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 

blood into that of the native tribes, and built up a political system far 
in advance of that native to the land. From this infusion the people 
on the west and northwest of the lake gained a refinement of manners 
and a culture far in advance of those on the opposite side of the lake. 
Yet the mingling of races has been so complete, and the negro element 
in it so much in excess, that the modern people of Uganda differ from 
ordinary negroes in appearance only by having larger and clearer 
eyes and slightly paler skins. 

To show that the conditions now existing in Uganda are not due 
to civilized ideas received from the English, it will be of interest to 
quote from the first visit of a white man to the court of Uganda, that 
of Captain Speke, in 1862. 

Setting out on January 11, in three days the caravan reached and 
crossed the Kitangule River, which flows into the Victoria Nyanza 
from the west. They were now in Uganda territory, and were treated 
everywhere as the king's guests, though the indolence of the conductor 
delayed them greatly in the earlier marches. On the 28th, cresting 
a small hill, Speke caught sight of the lake for the first time. "Next 
day, after crossing more of those abominable rush-drains, while in 
sight of the Victoria Nyanza, we ascended the most beautiful hills 
covered with verdure of all descriptions. At Meruka, where I put up, 
there resided some grandees, the chief of whom was the king's aunt. 
She sent me a goat, a hen, a basket of eggs and some plantains, in 
return for which I sent her a wire and some beads. I felt inclined 
to stop here a month, everything was so very pleasant. The tempera- 
ture was perfect. The roads, as indeed they were everywhere, were 
as broad as our coach-roads, cut through the long grasses, straight 
over the hills and down through the woods in the dells — a strange 
contrast to the wretched tracks in all the adjacent countries. The 
huts were kept so clean and so neat, not a fault could be found with 
them — the gardens the same. Wherever I strolled I saw nothing but 
richness, and what ought to be wealth. The whole land was a picture 
of quiescent beauty, with a boundless sea in the background. Looking 
over the hills, it struck the fancy at once that at one period the whole 
land must have been at a uniform level with their present tops, but 
that, by the constant denudation it was subjected to by frequent rains, 



BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 133 

it had been cut down and sloped into those beautiful hills and dales 
which now so much pleased the eye; for there were none of those 
quartz dikes I had seen protruding through the same kind of aqueous 
formations in Usui and Karagwe, nor were there any other sorts of 
volcanic disturbance to distort the calm, quiet aspect of the scene." 

After a journey through the country, where they found every- 
where similar evidences of civilized conditions, on the 18th of Feb- 
ruary, 1862, they came within view of the king's court. 

"It was a magnificent sight. A whole hill was covered with 
gigantic huts, such as I had never seen in Africa before. I wished 
to go up to the palace at once, but the officers said 'No, that would be 
considered indecent in Uganda; you must draw up your men and 
fire your guns off, to let the king know you are here; we will then 
show you your residence, and to-morrow you will doubtless be sent 
for, as the king could not now hold a levee while it is raining.' 

"On the 19th the king sent his pages to announce his intention 
of holding a levee in my honor. I prepared for my first presentation 
at court, attired in my best, though in it I cut a poor figure in com- 
parison with the display of the dressy Waganda. They wore neat 
bark cloaks resembling the best yellow corduroy cloth, crimp and well 
set, as if stiffened with starch, and over that, as upper cloaks, a patch- 
work of small antelope skins, which I observed were sewn together 
as well as any English glovers could have pieced them; while their 
head-dresses, generally, were abrus turbans, set off with highly pol- 
ished boar-tusks, stick-charms, seeds, beads, or shells, and on their 
necks, arms and ankles they wore other charms of wood, or small horns 
stuffed with magic powder, and fastened on by strings generally cov- 
ered with snake-skin. 

"The palace, or entrance, quite surprised me by its extraordinary 
dimensions, and the neatness with which it was kept. The whole 
brow and sides of the hill on which we stood were covered with gigan- 
tic grass huts, thatched as neatly as so many heads dressed by a Lon- 
don barber, and fenced all round with the tall yellow reeds of the 
common Uganda tiger-grass; while within the enclosure the lines of 
huts were joined together, or partitioned off into courts, with walls 
of the same grass. It is here most of Mtesa's three or four hundred 



i 3 4 BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 

women are kept, the rest being quartered chiefly with his mother, 
known by the title of Nyamasore, or queen-dowager. They stood in 
little groups at the doors, looking at us, and evidently passing their 
own remarks, and enjoying their own jokes, on the triumphal proces- 
sion. At each gate as we passed, officers on duty opened and shut it 
for us, jingling the big bells which are hung upon them, as they some- 
times are at shop-doors, to prevent silent, stealthy entrance. 

"The first court passed, I was even more surprised to find the 
unusual ceremonies that awaited me. There courtiers of high dignity 
stepped forward to greet me, dressed in the most scrupulously neat 
fashions. Men, women, bulls, dogs and goats were led about by strings ; 
cocks and hens were carried in men's arms ; and little pages, with rope 
turbans, rushed about, conveying messages, as if their lives depended 
on their swiftness, every one holding his skin cloak tightly about him, 
lest his naked legs might by accident be shown." 

The details of Captain Speke's reception by the king are too 
voluminous to be given here, and in place of this we will give a brief 
description of Kampala, the present king's capital. Or this, perhaps, 
had best be styled Mengo, which is the name of the king's quarter. 
Mengo is a city of seven hills, each suburb of the straggling town 
being a separate hill, the sides being often so steep that they cannot 
be ascended on horseback. Between these hills are marshy bottoms, 
with streams slowly percolating through them. The inhabited parts 
of the town, which has a population of about 70,000, are clean and 
picturesque, from the king's palace to the dwellings of the common 
people. 

On each side of the broad roadway are reed fences, behind which 
are yards in which bananas grow and back of these the family man- 
sions rise. Everything is kept neat and clean and the handsome trees 
and abundant vegetation make it a city of gardens. In fact, so dense 
is the growth of bananas, which afford shade and food to the people, 
that the huts of the people are quite concealed. All that the traveler 
sees in approaching the city are the government buildings and resi- 
dences neatly built on one hill ; the palace of the king and dwellings of 
his ministers on another ; on still others the cathedral and other Chris- 
tian churches. Everything else is lost under a broad sea of leaves 



BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 135 

between which run the wide and straight roadways. The whole place 
is extraordinarily unlike what one would look for in an African king- 
dom and very different from what is to be seen elsewhere in that con- 
tinent. 

Kampala lies on the northwest corner of the lake, about twenty- 
four miles north of Entebbe. The road between the English and 
native capitals is of firm, smooth sandstone,, over which the officials 
travel in automobiles, which have recently been introduced. The 
rickshaw, a bicycle-wheeled carriage, drawn by one man in the shafts 
and pushed by three from behind, was formerly the ordinary mode 
of travel, though the bicycle itself was much used and proved of great 
utility in the narrow native paths. 



CHAPTER XV 

Down the Victoria Nile 

THOSE who would leave British East Africa can do so by two 
routes. They can return by way of the Uganda Railway, 
retracing their steps to Mombasa, and thence to Europe via 
the Red Sea, or can go onward down the long course of the Nile, fol- 
lowing that noble river from its headwaters in the Victoria Nyanza 
to its delta on the shores of the Mediterranean. The first and one 
of the most interesting parts of this journey lies within the kingdom 
of Uganda and fits in with our description of that singular realm. 

About two hundred miles from the Victoria Nyanza lies another 
lake, the Albert Nyanza, small in comparison with the former, yet 
anything but a dwarf, as it is more than one hundred miles long and 
correspondingly wide. Between these two lakes, like a silver chain 
of connections, wanders the Nile, now in a broad deep flow, now 
rushing down many miles of rapids, now tumbling sheer downward 
in great cataracts — the Ripon and Murchison Falls. Down this splen- 
did river — known as the Victoria Nile in this section — we shall jour- 
ney and gaze upon its varied and attractive scenes. 

The whole length of the Nile, from its lake course to its outlet 
in the Mediterranean, is three thousand five hundred miles, and those 
who follow it to its termination have a long journey to make, part by 
foot-paths past the rapids, part by canoe and steamboat on the stream, 
part by rail down its lower course, where for many miles now runs 
the northern length of the Cape to Cairo Railway, a dream of Cecil 
Rhodes, which is now in process of being realized. 

The Great Victoria Lake is lifted high in the air, almost on a 
mountain top, for it is higher than the highest mountain in England. 
From this lofty elevation of nearly four thousand feet the Nile flows 
ever downward, now descending slowly, now rapidly, the steepest part 
of its course being that with which we are now concerned. 

(136) 




E OCTOPUS AND LOBSTER 



The Octopus or Cuttle Fish is a mollusk found in the Eastern Seas. Has eight long and flexible arms equipped 
with suckers by which it seizes fish or lobster and with its beak devours them 



THE ZEBRA 
A native of Central and Southern Africa — Marked with circular stripes — They have never been tamed for use. 




A GROUP OF GAZELLES 
Beautiful and graceful animals of Central Africa 




THE LEOPARD AND HER YOUNG 




THE PORCUPINE 

A remarkable animal covered with spines with which it defends itself 



DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE i 37 

The Albert Nyanza lies at a height of two thousand three hun- 
dred feet above sea level, so that in its first two hundred miles the Nile 
descends more than one-third of its whole fall. This is done in two 
long stretches of rapids, one about thirty miles long below the Ripon 
Falls, and another of the same length above the Murchison Falls. 
Between and below these rapids it flows level and smooth, midway in 
its course running through another large body of water. Lake Chi- 
oga, which, like the other two lakes, forms one of the feeders of the 
Nile. 

With this necessary explanation, we can go on in our path down 
the Victoria Nile, the first part of which must be made in a march 
through the forest to Kakindu, the head of navigation on the Nile; 
the second part by canoes or motorboats down the stream and across 
Lake Chioga; the third part again through the forest past the Mur- 
chison rapids, and then by boat or through the woods along the lower 
stream to the Albert Lake. 

The. forest travel of our first stage, from camp to camp, is a cus- 
tomary incident in the life of a Central African traveler. He goes 
"on safari" as the Boer goes "on trek." "Safari" is a Swahali word, 
of Arabic origin, meaning an expedition and all its belongings. In it 
are included the traveler and all his companions and baggage. It 
embraces his food, tents, rifles, clothing; his cooks, servants, escort 
and porters, the latter especially, as porters are essential elements of 
forest travel, in which all the impedimenta of an expedition must be 
carried on men's heads and shoulders. The British officer, on an 
official expedition, comes to think of a ten or twenty days "Safari" as 
we would of a journey to Alaska or Hawaii. 

Instead of making the wearisome journey ourselves, let us follow 
in the footsteps of a traveler who gives us a graphic and picturesque 
description of the route. Here is the experience of Winston Churchill, 
in his forest trip down the stream. After taking a long and lingering 
look at Ripon Falls he committed himself to the forest depths. The 
porters had already been long on the road with their burdens and he 
thus describes the route by which he followed them : 

"The native path struck northeast from the Nile, and led into a 
hilly and densely wooded region. The elephant grass on each side of 



i 3 8 DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 

the track rose fifteen feet high. In the valleys great trees grew and 
arched above our heads, laced and twined together with curtains of 
flowering creepers. Here and there a glade opened to the right or 
left, and patches of vivid sunlight splashed into the gloom. Around 
the crossings of little streams butterflies danced in brilliant ballets. 
Many kinds of birds flew about the trees. The jungle was haunted 
by game — utterly lost in its dense entanglements. 

''Our first march was about fourteen miles, and as we had not 
started till the hot hours of the day were upon us, it was enough and 
to spare so far as I was concerned. Up hill and down hill wandered 
our path, now plunged in the twilight of a forest valley, now winding- 
up the side of a scorched hill, and I had for some time been hoping 
to see the camp round every corner, when at last we reached it. It 
consisted of two rows of green tents and a large 'banda,' or rest-house, 
as big as a large barn in England, standing in a nice, trim clearing. 
These 'bandas' are a great feature of African travel; and the dutiful 
chief through whose territory we are passing had taken pains to make 
them on the most elaborate scale. He was not long in making his ap- 
pearance with presents of various kinds. A lanky, black-faced sheep, 
with a fat tail as big as a pumpkin, was dragged forward, bleating, 
by two retainers. Others brought live hens and earthenware jars of 
milk and baskets of little round eggs. The chief was a tall, intelli- 
gent-looking man, with the winning smile and attractive manners 
characteristic of the country, and made his salutations with a fine air 
of dignity and friendship. 

"The house he had prepared for us was built of bamboo frame- 
work, supported upon a central row of Y-shaped tree stems, with a 
high-pitched roof heavily thatched with elephant-grass, and walls of 
wattled reeds. The floors of African 'bandas' when newly made are 
beautifully smooth and clean, and strewn with fresh green rushes ; the 
interior is often cunningly divided into various apartments, and the 
main building is connected with kitchens and offices of the same unsub- 
stantial texture by veranda-shaded passages. In fact, they prove a 
high degree of social knowledge and taste in the natives, who make 
them with almost incredible rapidity from the vegetation of the sur- 
rounding jungle ; and the sensation of entering one of these lofty, dim, 



DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 139 

cool, and spacious interiors, and sinking into the soft rush-bed of the 
floor, with something to drink which is, at any rate, not tepid, well 
repays the glaring severities of a march under an Equatorial sun. 
The 'banda,' however, is a luxury of which the traveler should beware, 
for if it has stood for more than a week it becomes the home of innu- 
merable insects, many of approved malevolence and venom, and spiril- 
lum fever is almost invariably caught from sleeping in old shelters 
or on disused camping-grounds. 

'The best of all methods of progression in Central Africa — how- 
ever astonishing it may seem — is the bicycle. In the dry season the 
paths through the bush, smoothed by the feet of natives, afford an 
excellent surface. Even when the track is only two feet wide, and 
when the densest jungle rises on either side and almost meets above 
the head, the bicycle skims along, swishing through the grass and 
brushing the encroaching bushes, at a fine pace ; and although at every 
few hundred yards sharp rocks, loose stones, a water-course, or a steep 
hill compel dismounting, a good seven miles an hour can usually be 
maintained. And think what this means. From my own experience 
I should suppose that with a bicycle twenty-five to thirty miles a day 
could regularly be covered in Uganda, and, if only the porters could 
keep up, all journeys could be nearly trebled, and every white officer's 
radius of action proportionately increased. Nearly all the British 
officers I met already possessed and used bicycles, and even the native 
chiefs are beginning to acquire them. 

"But the march, however performed, has its termination; and 
if, as is recommended, you stop to breakfast and rest upon the way, 
the new camp will be almost ready upon arrival. During the heat of 
the day every one retires to his tent or to the more effective shelter 
of the 'banda,' to read and sleep till the evening. Then as the sun gets 
low we emerge to smoke and talk, and there is, perhaps, just time for 
the energetic to pursue an antelope, or shoot a few guinea-fowl or 
pigeons." 

Thus on and on the traveler goes, through the forest shades, 
out of sight and hearing of the Nile, till at length, after a three days' 
tramp, the latter part of which is through a native settlement, with its 
crop of bananas and other plants, the Nile again appears, a glowing 



i 4 o DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 

breadth of deep, clear water, nearly a third of a mile wide, and flowing 
calmly onward, free from the turmoil of the rapids through which it 
has tossed and tumbled for the first forty miles of its course. 

Here, at the native village of Kakindu, we first take to the river 
and float smoothly and easily down its course until Lake Chioga is 
reached and we glide over the limpid expanse of that inland waterway. 
This lake is about fifty miles long from east to west, and eleven broad, 
its area being much extended by a series of long arms, which stretch 
far out and yield access to wide surrounding districts. All these arms 
and much of the lake itself are half choked with reeds, grass and water 
lilies, while the Nile, as it nears the lake, broadens into wide lagoons, 
high walls of the papyrus reed bordering them and hiding the sur- 
rounding country. 

On the lake the voyager can usually count on a depth of about 
twelve feet, but floating weeds and water plants much impede naviga- 
tion, while in times of storm floating islands of mud and papyrus are 
often detached and float about, puzzling the pilot by blocking up the 
channels familiar to him. One thing in especial must be done, t'he 
voyager must avoid the northern and particularly the northwestern 
shore, for here dwell wild and hostile tribes which have never been 
brought under control. Though this region forms part of the protec- 
torate, its people acknowledge no masters and are ever ready to attack 
interlopers with their spears, or their muskets, when they have them. 

Now, without following the Nile step by step throughout its 
course, let us make a leap forward to its greatest cataract, the 
Murchison Falls. On leaving Lake Chioga it spreads to a broad 
stream of more than a mile in width, flowing between walls of solid 
papyrus and dotted' with floating islands of plant formation. After 
a considerable length of level stream we reach Karuma Falls and 
the rapids again set in, ending, about forty miles further down, in the 
great cataract above mentioned. 

If we seek it through the jungle-like Hoima forest, it is to find 
ourselves in such a wilderness of vegetation as is seldom seen. The 
forests of Uganda in general are, for magnificence of tree growth, for 
varied form and color, for profusion of life, for the vast scale on which 
nature's processes work, almost unequalled; and the fecundity of 



DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 141 

animal life is astonishing. Here are birds as bright as butterflies; 
butterflies as big as birds. The air hums with flying creatures, the 
earth fairly crawls with creeping life. Through it passes the telegraph 
wire running north to Gondokoro, the very poles of which break into 
bud. In the forest itself huge trees jostle each other for room to live, 
lower plants throng the soil, and the trees are fettered together with 
a thick tangle of twining parasites, which at intervals burst into a sea 
of bright blossoms. 

But we must hurry on to the falls themselves, the most remark- 
able in the whole course of the Nile. The cataracts begin many miles 
above, the river hurrying forward in foam down a continuous stair- 
way inclosed by rocky walls. It is still, however, a broad flood, but, 
about two miles above Fajao, these walls suddenly contract until they 
are less than six yards apart, and through this narrow opening the 
whole great stream shoots like water from the nozzle of a hose, pour- 
ing in a single jet and with a far-reaching roar down an abyss of a 
hundred and sixty feet in depth. 

On seeing the great size of the river below the falls it is difficult 
to believe that this vast volume of water comes through that single 
spout. On climbing to the summit of the rock, through clouds of spray 
and a thunder of sound, the observer can walk within an inch of the 
edge, and lying down can look over into the torment of foam below. 
It seems as if the rock must have been worn away to a great extent 
below, for otherwise it seems impossible for so much water to pass 
through so narrow a space. 

The Nile below the falls swarms with crocodiles, and farther 
down are herds of hippopotami, so that the stream throbs with life. 
The crocodiles haunt this spot on the lookout for the dead fish and 
animals carried over by the water, even the great hippos from the 
upper river being often caught and hurled down the Watery cliff. So 
numerous are the saurians that at a rifle shot hundreds of them may 
be seen rushing from the banks into the Nile, the water of which they 
churn into milk-white foam. 

We can perhaps best tell the story of these falls and also of the 
lake of which they form the threshold, in the words of their discov- 
erer, Sir Samuel Baker. On his journey of exploration into Central 



142 DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 

Africa in 1863, he had met with Captain Speke, who told him of his 
discovery of the Victoria Nyanza, and of the existence of another large 
lake which the natives called the Luta Nzige. 

"Speke expressed his conviction that the Luta Nzige must be a 
second source of the Nile, and that geographers would be dissatisfied 
that he had not explored it. To me this was most gatifying. I had 
been much disheartened at the idea that the great work was accom- 
plished, and that nothing remained for exploration; I even spoke to 
Speke, 'Does not one leaf of the laurel remain for me?' I now heard 
that the field was not only open, but that an additional interest was 
given to the exploration by the proof that the Nile flowed out of one 
great lake, the Victoria; but that it evidently must derive an addi- 
tional supply from an unknown lake as it entered it at the northern 
extremity, while the body of the lake came from the south. The fact 
of a great body of water such as the Luta Nzige extending in a direct 
line from south to north, while the general system of drainage of the 
Nile was from the same direction, showed must conclusively that the 
Luta Nzige, if it existed in the form assumed, must have an important 
position in the basin of the Nile." 

After a long and toilsome journey Sir Samuel and his devoted 
wife, who had accompanied him on this expedition, reached the vicinity 
of the lake. Both Baker and his wife were suffering from fever and 
its effects; they had had great difficulty in finding porters, and the 
prospect before them was most depressing and discouraging. Matters 
were very bad, but they were soon to become worse. On the fourth 
day they came to the River Kafoor, which, bending south, they were 
obliged to cross. This could be done only in a very curious way. The 
whole stream was matted over with a carpet of floating weeds,, so 
strong and so thick that it was sufficient to bear the weight of a man 
if he ran quickly. The width was about thirty yards. Baker started, 
begging his wife to follow him rapidly, keeping exactly in his foot- 
steps. When he was half-way across, he turned to see why she was 
not with him, and, to his horror, saw her standing in one place, and 
sinking through the weeds, her face distorted and purple, and almost 
at the moment of his catching sight of her, she fell headlong down 
with a sunstroke. 



DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 



43 



In the desperation of the moment, he and several of his men 
seized her, and dragged her across, sinking in the weeds up to their 
waists, and just keeping her head above water. She lay perfectly 
insensible, as though dead, with clenched hands and set teeth, all 
efforts at restoring animation being for a time utterly useless. When 
at length these had succeeded, she was gently borne forward like a 
corpse — the rattle was in her throat, and the end seemed to be very 
near. Three days of insensibility we're followed by seven more of 
brain-fever and delirium. Preparations were made for the worst, 
which it was believed had actually come ; but the spark of life was not 
fully extinguished, and it began to brighten, and by and by burnt more 
steadily. It was now possible to move, and at the close of the sixteenth 
day from M'rooli they were at the village of Parkani, one hundred 
miles on a straight line from M'rooli; and they began to hope once 
more that the object of these two years' weary wanderings was close 
at hand. 

They did not suppose that it was actually within one day's march ; 
yet such was really the case. On the day before they arived at 
Parkani, Baker had observed, at a great distance to the northwest of 
their course, a range of very lofty mountains. He fancied that the 
lake must lie on the other side of this range, but now he was informed 
that these mountains were the western boundary of the Nzige, and 
that if he started early he might reach it by noon. Accordingly on the 
14th of March, 1864, starting early, he, "the first European who had 
ever seen it," looked on this magnificent body of water. 

"It is impossible," he says, "to describe the triumph of that 
-moment; — here was the reward for all our labor — for the years of ten- 
acity with which we had toiled through Africa. England had won the 
sources of the Nile! I was about 1,500 feet above the lake, and I 
looked down from the steep granite cliff upon those welcome waters. 
upon that vast reservoir which nourished Egypt and brought fertility 
where all was wilderness, upon that great source so long hidden from 
mankind, that source of bounty and of blessings to millions of human 
beings ; and as one of the greatest objects of nature, I determined to 
honor it with a great name. As an imperishable memorial of one 
loved and mourned by our gracious Queen and deplored by every Eng- 



144 DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 

lishman, I called this great lake the 'Albert Nyanza.' The Victoria 
and the Albert lakes are the two sources of the Nile." He subse- 
quently procured the means, and gave his men a feast in honor of the 
discovery and in gratitude for his wife's recovery. 

Baker on the occasion of his first sighting the water stood on a 
point 1,500 feet above it. Opposite to him, the lake was about sixty 
miles broad, but to the south and southwest lay a boundless horizon 
like the ocean. Immediately on the other side rose a grand range of 
mountains, some of them seven thousand feet high, and down two 
streams in their rifts there streamed great waterfalls, visible even at 
that vast distance, to add their contributions to the fresh-water ocean. 
This, then, was the Luta Nzige, the lake of the dead locusts, the reser- 
voir of the Nile. Mrs. Baker, utterly worn out with sickness, was 
assisted with difficulty to reach this first point of discovery. The 
ascent was too steep for cattle, but leaning on her husband's shoulder 
she accomplished it, and they both descended to the shore. Wild 
waves were sweeping over the surface of the water, and bursting at 
their feet upon the white shingly beach. In his enthusiasm, Baker 
dashed in headlong, and drank deep of the pure, fresh element which in 
so vast a body was now actually before their eyes. 

Preparations were now made for a fortnight's voyage on the lake. 
Two canoes were selected, — the one twenty-six and the other thirty- 
two feet long, both made of single logs. A cabin was constructed in 
the smaller of these, and they started. The scenery was most beau- 
tiful. Sometimes the mountains to the west were quite invisible, and 
the canoes usually kept within a hundred yards of the shore. At one 
time the cliffs would recede, and leave a meadow more or less broad 
at their base; at another the rocks would go right down into deep 
water; and, again, a grand mass of gneiss and granite, 1,100 feet high, 
would present itself feathered with beautiful evergreens and giant 
euphorbia, with every runnel and rivulet in its clefts fringed with 
graceful wild date-trees. Hippopotomi lazily floated about ; and croco- 
diles, alarmed by the canoe, would rush quickly out of the bushes into 
the water. On one occasion Baker killed one of them with his rifle, 
and it sank in eight feet of water; but the water was so beautifully 
transparent that it could be seen plainly lying at the bottom bleeding. 



DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 145 

They once saw an elephant come down out of the forest to bathe. At 
another time, fourteen of those majestic animals were seen disporting 
themselves in a sandy bay, throwing jets of water in all directions. 
On another occasion they pased a waterfall, 1,000 feet high, made by 
the river Kaiigiri, which rises in the swamp which turned them out of 
their way on leaving M'rooli. 

Such were the sights of their voyage, but at the same time it was 
not in all respects a pleasant one. They 'were both still suffering from 
fever, and they were cramped together in this narrow boat, under a low 
awning of bullock's hide. At night they camped on the shore. 
Besides, the weather was bad. At one o'clock every day a violent tor- 
nado lashed the lake into fury, and placed their craft in imminent 
danger. In the course of their sailing explorations, they were nearly 
lost by this means, having been caught by the gale four miles from 
land, and obliged to run before it, being nearly swamped at times by 
the heaviness of the swell. They managed to reach the shore, how- 
ever, but their boat was overturned on the beach, and all the live-stock 
was drowned; and it was with difficulty that they recovered the boat. 
After thirteen days, when they had rowed for ninety miles, the lake 
began to contract, and vast reed-beds extended from the shore to the 
distance of a mile, there being a floating vegetation similar to that of 
the bridge which they were crossing when Mrs. Baker was struck 
down. Preferring to find a gap in this false shore to the ordinary 
method of walking over it, he coasted the floating reeds for a mile, 
and came to a broad still channel, bounded with reeds on both sides. 
This was the embouchure of the Victoria Nile — the river which con- 
nects the Albert with the Victoria Nyanza. 

Speke had followed the Nile downwards from the Victoria 
Nyanza to the Karuma Falls, at the head of the Murchison Rapids, 
but from that point to the Albert Nyanza the river was still unknown 
and Baker determined to explore it. The chief of Magungo and all 
the natives assured him that the broad channel of dead water at his 
feet was positively the brawling river which he had crossed below the 
Karuma Falls, but he could not understand how so fine a body of water 
as that had appeared could possibly enter the Albert Lake as dead 
water. The guide and natives laughed at his unbelief, and declared 



i 4 6 DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 

that it was dead-water for a considerable distance from the junction 
with the lake, but that a great waterfall rushed down from the 
mountain, and that beyond that fall the river was merely a succession 
of cataracts throughout the entire distance of about six days' march 
to Karuma Falls. 

Having resolved to explore the Victoria Nile as far as those falls, 
and the boats being ready, Baker took leave of the chief, leaving him 
an acceptable present of beads, and descended the hill to the river, 
thankful at having so far successfully terminated the expedition as to 
have traced the lake to the important point of Magungo, which had 
been his clue to the discovery even so far away in time and place as the 
distant country of Latooka. Both Baker and his wife were very weak 
and ill, he endeavoring to assist his wife, and she doing her best to 
assist him. Reaching the boats they started at once and made good 
progress till the evening. The river seemed to be entirely devoid of 
current, and had an average breadth of about five hundred yards. 
Before halting for the night, he had a severe attack of fever, and was 
carried on shore on a litter, perfectly unconscious, to a village in the 
neighborhood of their landing-place. At daybreak, he was too weak 
to stand, and both he and his wife were carried down to the canoes. 
Many of the men were also suffering from fever, the malaria of the 
dense masses of floating vegetation being most poisonous. 

At about ten miles from Magungo the river rapidly narrowed to 
two hundred and fifty yards. The great flats of rush banks were left 
behind them, and they entered a channel between high ground on both 
sides, the hills being covered with forest. There was not even yet, 
however, any perceptible stream. The water was clear and very deep. 
They halted and slept on a mud-bank close to the shore. On waking 
next morning, the river was covered with a thick fog; and as, before 
arousing his men, Baker lay watching the fog as it was slowly being 
lifted from the water, he was struck by the fact that the little green 
water-plants, like floating cabbages, were certainly moving, although 
very slowly, to the west. He immediately jumped up and examined 
them more carefully ; there was no doubt about it ; they were traveling 
towards the Albert Lake. They were now about eighteen miles in a 
direct line from Magungo, and there was a current in the river, which, 



DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 147 

though slight, was perceptible. They had lain themselves down with 
their clothes on; their toilet was therefore the more easily arranged, 
and they at once entered their canoe and gave orders to start. 

As they proceeded, the river gradually narrowed to about one 
hundred and eighty yards ; and when the paddles ceased working, they 
could distinctly hear the roar of water. The roar of the fall was 
extremely loud, and after hard pulling for a couple of hours, during 
which time the velocity of the stream increased, they arrived at a few 
deserted fishing huts, at a point where the river made a slight turn. 
There was here a most extraordinary show of crocodiles ; they lay like 
logs of timber close together, and upon one bank they counted twenty- 
seven of large size, and every basking-place was crowded in a similar 
manner. From the time that they had fairly entered the river, it had 
been confined by somewhat precipitous heights on either side, but at 
this point they were much higher and bolder. From the roar of the 
water there was reason to believe that the fall would be in sight if they 
turned the corner of the bend of the river ; and he desired the boatmen 
to row as fast as they could. They objected to this at first, wishing to 
stop at the deserted village, and contending that, as this was to be the 
limit of their journey, further progress was impossible. "However," 
he says, "I explained that I merely wished to see the fall, and they 
rowed immediately up the stream, which was now strong against us. 
Upon rounding the corner, a magnificent sight burst suddenly upon 
us. On either side of the river were beautifully wooded cliffs rising 
abruptly to a height of about 300 feet; rocks were jutting out from the 
intensely green foliage ; and rushing through a gap that cleft the rock 
exactly before us, the river, contracted from a grand stream, was pent 
up in a narrow gorge of scarcely fifty yards in width ; roaring furiously 
through the rock-bound pass, it plunged in one leap of about 120 feet 
perpendicular into a dark abyss below. 

"The fall of water was snow-white, which had a superb effect as 
it contrasted with the dark cliffs that walled the river, while the grace- 
ful palms of the tropics and wild plantains perfected the beauty of the 
view. This was the greatest waterfall of the Nile, and in honor of the 
distinguished President of the Royal Geographical Society, I named it 
the Murchison Falls, as the most important object throughout the 
entire course of the river." 



i 4 8 DOWN THE VICTORIA NILE 

The boatmen were promised a present of beads to induce them to 
approach the fall as close as possible, and they succeeded in bringing 
the canoe to within about three hundred yards of the base, but the 
power of the current and the force of the whirlpools prevented their 
going nearer. A sandbank on their left was literally covered with 
crocodiles, which had no fear of the canoe till it came within twenty 
yards of them, and then they slowly crept into the water, all except 
one — an enormous fellow who lazily lagged behind, and who dropped 
dead immediately as a bullet struck him in the brain. The boatmen 
were alarmed at the unexpected report of the rifle, and sought shelter 
in the body of the canoe, not one of them using a paddle, and nothing 
would induce them to attend to the boat, especially as a second shot 
had been fired as a quietus, and they could not tell how often the 
alarming noise might be repeated. They were therefore at the mercy 
of the powerful stream, and the canoe was whisked round by the 
eddy and carried against a thick bank of high reeds. They had 
scarcely touched it when a tremendous commotion took place in the 
rushes, and in an instant a great bull hippopotamus charged the 
canoe, and with a severe shock striking the bottom he lifted them half 
out of the water. The natives who were in the bottom of the boat 
positively yelled with terror, not knowing whether the shock might 
not in some way be connected with the dreaded report of the rifle. 

A few kicks bestowed by Baker's angry men upon the recumbent 
boatmen restored them to the perpendicular, and the first thing neces- 
sary was to hunt for a lost paddle which was floating down the rapid 
current. The hippopotamus, proud of having disturbed them, raised 
his head to take a last view of his enemy, but sunk too rapidly to 
permit a shot. Crocodile heads of enormous size were to be seen in 
all directions, and it would have been good sport to these monsters if 
the bull hippopotamus had been successful in his attempt to capsize 
the canoe. Baker prevailed upon the boatmen to keep the canoe 
steady while he made a sketch of the Murchison Falls, which being 
completed they drifted rapidly down to the landing-place at the 
deserted fishing-village, and bade adieu to the navigation of the lake 
and river of Central Africa. 



BOOK THREE 



BIG GAME OF CENTRAL 
AFRICA 

And Other Animals, Birds and Reptiles, Found in the 
Course of Roosevelt's Travels 



<M9) 



CHAPTER XVI 

Preparations for the Expedition 

MAKING preparations for an African hunting trip would seem to 
be a tremendously complicated affair, but the tide of travel 
has set so strongly in that direction during the last ten years 
that all possible wants are systematically taken care of by European 
outfitters. Practically the only necessary thing is to write to one of the 
great London outfitting houses, stating the probable duration of the 
stay in Africa and the number in the party. With this information 
they are equipped to deliver to any African port an entire outfit packed 
for porters in sixty-pound packages, with canvas covers and handles, 
consisting of all food with the exception of the sugar, flour and like 




WINCHESTER SPORTING RIFLE 

A high power, long range rifle 

heavy supplies, which are easily bought at the starting point in Africa. 
The outfit also contains tents, cutlery, axes, folding bath tubs and in 
short everything needful except guns and ammunition. These also can 
be readily procured in London or New York of the proper type and size. 
What a difference from the days of Livingstone and Stanley ! Their 
difficulties and hardships on account of lack of proper supplies would 
fill many books. 

Mr. Roosevelt found everything ready and waiting for him on 
his arrival. He had only to disembark with his guns and personal 
equipment and entrain for the interior, picking up the outfit at 
Nairobi. 

(i 50 



1 52 PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION 

The selection of guns is a serious matter on a trip of this kind. 
Very often a man's life depends entirely on the accuracy and perfec- 
tion of this part of the equipment. A defective lock or weak ejector 
has cost more than one life in the jungle. Most hunters of late years 
have taken the following assortment: First and most important, of 
course, is the heavy double barrel .450 (45/1 00-inch) express rifle, 
using cordite and usually either soft-nose or explosive bullets. This 
rifle is used for the largest game, such as elephant, rhinoceros, hippo- 
potamus, etc., when the range is not too great. Next come the lighter 
guns with smaller bore and greater range. Many hunters prefer the 
Mannlicher sporting rifle of eight or nine millimeters bore (about as 
large as a drawing crayon, 33/100 and 35/100 of an inch). Others 




FOX DOUBLE BARREL SHOT GUN 
A gun of this same model was made for Mr. Roosevelt 

prefer the Winchester. Mr. Roosevelt has used the latter in most of 
his work. These smaller bore rifles are very useful for the fleet 
antelope family, zebra, giraffe and the wary and easily frightened 
gazelles or smaller antelopes. Their range is greater than that of the 
express and a kill can be made at 1,000 yards or more. In addition 
to these weapons, a 12-bore repeating shot gun and a service revolver 
usually suffice to complete the list. 

Alterations in guns are sometimes necessary. For instance, Mr. 
Roosevelt is said to be somewhat color blind. In trying out his rifles 
it was found that with the regulation gun metal sight he was rather 
a poor marksman, but when a pink bead had been substituted for this 
his targets were remarkably good. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION 153 

A good pair of binoculars with a strap to hang them around the 
neck is an important detail of the outfit. 

After supplies and equipment have been selected and ordered 
there remains only the matter of securing a safari or caravan. This 
consists of a head man and his head porter, gun bearers, syces or 
grooms for the riding horses or mules, tent boys or personal servants, 
cooks and, last but far from least, the porters. These vary in numbers 
according to the number in the party and the length of the stay in the 
interior. The Roosevelt party started with more than two hundred. 
The entire safari is native of course and consists usually of Somalis, 
Swahilis, Kikuyu, Wakamba, Uganda, Matabele, Masai, etc. Of these 
the Somalis receive the highest wages, as they are superior in every 
way to the rest. As gun bearers their bravery in a tight place makes 




THE SERVICE REVOLVER 

Useful at close quarters 



them invaluable, and as porters they are able to carry greater weights 
than any of the other tribes. Mr. R. J. Cunninghame, the leader of 
Mr. Roosevelt's safari, takes exception to the Somalis, however, 
claiming that punishment is absolutely necessary in handling East 
African natives. Somalis will not stand beating, and it is difficult 
to enforce discipline and keep them up to their work without it. The 
other natives expect beating as part of the day's work and will lie 
down on order to take their whipping with the heavy sjambok or 
hippopotamus hide whip common to South and East Africa. 

These preliminaries having been arranged for Mr. Roosevelt, all 
that was necessary for him to do on arriving at Mombasa was to take 
the train on the Uganda Railway to Nairobi, pick up his outfit and 
begin hunting. 



154 PREPARATIONS FOR THE EXPEDITION 

The object of the expedition was primarily to obtain specimens of 
African game for the Smithsonian Institution, and a number of skilful 
taxidermists and naturalists accompanied the party for the purpose of 
preserving and studying the trophies of the trip. It was hoped that 
the expedition would be fortunate enough to discover several new 
species and give the world better and more accurate information about 
those already known. 

No preference of course was to be given one species over another 
except for food purposes. Nevertheless it is only natural that the 
hunter's interest, as well as the reader's, should turn to the really big 
game, from which the greatest sport was to be had. 



CHAPTER XVII 

The Great Thick-skinned Animals 

The Elephant. — First of all in point of interest comes the 
elephant, the giant pachyderm, as his family is known to 
science. Attaining" the height of twelve feet at the shoulders 
and a length of eighteen or nineteen feet, it is indeed an impressive 
sight to meet even a single elephant in his native forest. His strength 
is enormous, and the spectacle of whole trees torn up by the roots and 
broken off close to the ground as a result of a playful moment is an 
awe-inspiring one. 

The African elephant differs in some respects from the Asiatic 
species more commonly seen. His skin is black and nearly destitute 
of hair and the tail is short with a tufted end. The head is rounder, 
forehead more convex and ears much larger than in the Asiatic 
elephant. The latter are very flat, reaching to the legs, and over- 
lapping each other on the top of the neck. Each foot has five toes. 
The tusks are arched, between eight and nine feet long and weighing 
about one hundred pounds. The female is upwards of eight feet high 
and usually provided with tusks about four feet long. 

The weight of a full-grown bull elephant is really immense; it 
may be imagined how wonderfully powerful are the limbs which can 
carry that weight over the ground at a speed nearly equal to that of 
a horse. 

But nature has taken very good care that these limbs shall not 
be too weak for their task. Indeed, they are like so many pillars, so 
massively are they formed, and so firmly planted upon the ground. 
And, if you take notice, the hind legs have not the peculiar "knee-" 
joint, as it is often but wrongly called, which we see in the horse, 
and which would take away very much from the strength of those 
limbs. 

Now, I dare say you will be rather surprised when I tell you 

(155) 



iS6 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



that the elephant, large and heavy though he is, can yet move over 
the ground, and even through the thick forest, with so silent a tread 
that you would be quite unable to hear his footfall, even though you 
might be standing close beside him. Indeed, hunters who have shot 
many an elephant tell us that the only way in which one can hear 
the animal moving is by listening for the sound caused by the water 




ELEPHANTS DRINKING BY MOONLIGHT 



contained in his stomach, which makes a peculiar "swishing" sound 
as he walks along. 

Now, how is this? Here is an immense animal, standing eleven 
or twelve feet in height, and weighing two or three tons, and yet 
walking with the silent and stealthy tread of a cat! Are his feet 
furnished with soft cushions upon the soles, like those of the lion or 
the tiger? Yes and no, their structure being, however, perfectly 
different, and yet equally wonderful. 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 157 

If you could look carefully at the foot of an elephant, you would 
see that it is encased in a kind of hoof, which protects it from injury 
upon the ground. But this hoof has other purposes as well, for it 
must serve to break the shock of the footfall, which must of course 
result from every step of so heavy a body. And consequently it is 
formed of a vast number of elastic horny plates and india-rubber-like 
pads, so that, when the enormous animal treads, its footsteps are nearly 
as noiseless as those of a cat. 

If you have ever ridden upon an elephant, you must have noticed 
two things. A>s the animal moves the legs of one side nearly together, 
the body sways from side to side at each double step. Also, though 
the elephant is so heavy, and the legs so apparently clumsy, the step 
is so soft, that the rider not only does not hear it, but actually feels 
no jar as the foot touches the ground. 

This gentle movement is partly due to the elastic plates, which 
act something like our own steel carriage-springs, but in a different 
direction, and partly to the pads, which act just like the india-rubber 
tires of a bicycle-wheel. 

Now, if we had never seen an elephant, or a picture of one, and 
had not even heard the animal described to us, we might very well 
wonder how so large and bulky an animal, with a neck so short that the 
mouth could not reach within several feet of the ground, could possibly 
supply itself with food and drink. If we had been asked to invent a 
way in which this could be done, we should certainly have failed, for, 
clever as man is, such a task would be quite beyond his powers. 

But nature found no difficulty in doing so, for she modified the 
snout and the upper lip into a long trunk, or proboscis, which is so 
wonderfully useful that it can be employed for a great variety of 
purposes. As one writer has very well said, with its trunk the elephant 
can uproot or shake trees, lift a cannon, or pick up a pin; by its aid 
it can carry both food and water to the mouth, while, upon a hot day, 
it can turn the same organ into a shower-bath, and sprinkle its body 
with cool and refreshing water. 

A wonderful organ, indeed, must be the trunk, which can fulfil 
so many purposes, and one gifted as much w T ith a delicate sense of 
touch as with great and almost giant strength. And this is in very 



158 THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

truth the case, for the tip of the proboscis is as sensitive as our own 
fingers, and is, moreover, furnished with two small projections which 
act in very much the same manner as a finger and thumb. 

So powerful are the muscles of the trunk that an elephant can 
pick up a large and heavy log, raise it high in the air, and hurl it with 
great force to the ground, although its weight might be so great that 
a strong man could hardly move it. 

Through the whole length of the trunk run the nostrils, and it is 




ELEPHANT HUNTING- IN THE FOREST 



by the aid of these that the elephant is able to drink. When an 
elephant feels thirsty, he plunges the end of his trunk into the water, 
and draws in his breath until the nostrils are filled, just in the same 
manner, in fact, as a syringe is charged by drawing out the handle. 
Then the trunk is curled up, the tip placed in the mouth, and the 
water forced down the throat, the process being repeated as often as 
necessary. 

Food is taken in much the same maner, excepting of course, 
that the nostrils are not employed. Small articles, such as fruit, 



Til E GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS x S9 

leaves, and so on, are picked up by the little linger and thumb-like 
projections about which I told you, while larger objects are grasped 
by the trunk itself. I dare say that you have seen an elephant pick 
up and eat a biscuit ; and, if so, you will very well remember the man- 
ner in which the trunk carried food to the mouth. 

So useful, indeed, is the trunk, that if deprived of its aid, even 
for a few days only, the elephant would certainly die. His neck is 
so short that he could obtain neither food or drink, for he could not 
bend his head to the ground and so procure water, while his long 
tusks would prevent him from even plucking the leaves which might 
grow within his reach. 

I dare say you will wonder why it is that the neck should be so 
short and stout. The fact is, that the head, with the teeth and the 
enormous tusks, is so immensely heavy, that the neck must be very 
large in order to contain the powerful muscles which are needed to 
sustain it. This accounts for its great size, and we may also see with 
equal ease, the reason for its shortness by trying a single experiment. 
Mud-Bathers — Elephants. — Nearly every tropical animal, 
including the tiger, bathes either in water or in mud. Perhaps the 
best-known mud-bathers are the wild boar, the water-buffalo, and the 
elephant. The latter has an immense advantage over all other 
animals, in the use of its trunk for dressing wounds. It is at once a 
syringe, a powdering-puff and a hand. Water, mud, and dust are 
the main "applications" used, though it sometimes covers a sun- 
scorched back with grass or leaves. "Wounded elephants," writes 
an African explorer, "have marvelous power of recovery when in their 
wild state, although they have no gifts of surgical knowledge, their 
simple system being confined to plastering their wounds with mud, or 
blowing dust upon the surface. Dust and mud comprise the entire 
pharmacopoeia of the elephant, and this is applied upon the most 
trivial as well as upon the most serious occasions. I have seen them 
when in a tank plaster up a bullet wound with mud taken from the 
bottom." 

How an Elephant Pays Back. — A tame elephant, kept by an 
officer in India, was suffered to go at large. The animal used to walk 
about the streets in as quiet and familiar a manner as any of the 



i6o THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

inhabitants; and delighted much in visiting the shops, particularly 
those which sold herbs and fruit, where he was well received, except 
by a couple of brutal cobblers, who, without any cause, took offense at 
the generous creature, and once or twice attempted to wound his 
proboscis with their awls. The noble animal, who knew it was beneath 
him to crush them, did not disdain to chastise them by other means. 
He filled his large trunk with a considerable quantity of water, not of 
the cleanest quality, and advancing to them as usual, covered them at 
once with a dirty flood. The fools were laughed at, and the punish- 
ment applauded. 

The Elephant's Courage. — An elephant, with a good driver, 
gives, perhaps, the best instance of disciplined courage to be seen in 
the animal world. Elephants will submit, day after day, to have pain- 
ful wounds dressed in obedience to their keepers, and meet danger in 
obedience to their orders, though their intelligence is sufficient to 
understand the peril, and far too great for man to trick them into 
a belief that there is no risk. No animal will face danger more 
readily at man's bidding. As an example, it is told that a small female 
elephant was charged by a buffalo, in high grass, and her rider, in the 
hurry of the moment, and perhaps owing to the sudden stoppage of 
the elephant, fired an explosive shell from his rifle, not into the 
buffalo, but into the elephant's shoulder. The wound was so severe, 
that it had not healed a year later. Yet the elephant stood firm, 
although it was gored by the buffalo, which was then killed by another 
gun. 

The elephant is usually gregarious and is common in the exten- 
sive plains and forests of the interior. Unfortunately they have been 
hunted down for their ivory during so many years that the supply is 
diminishing. 

There are many ways of hunting an elephant. The most common 
among sportsmen is to follow the trail on horseback up to within 
sight of the desired specimen and being careful to ride "up the wind," 
or so as to keep the wind blowing from the elephants toward the 
hunter. Their sense of smell is a very keen one and should the wind 
shift and blow for an instant from the hunter's direction they would 
be off with squeals of anger and dismay. Due care having been 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 161 

exercised in this, the sportsman advances through country presenting 
every variety of feature. He may cross stony ridges and plunge into 
the heart of shady, tangled forests, traverse fields of waving grass, 
and reach the open veldt. He must take great care to let no noise or 
sight of him reach the herd. Should he arrive within range without 
alarming the intended victim, he may -adopt anyone of a number of 
methods of procedure. Perhaps the country is flat and open and in 
this case the hunter will probably shoot from the saddle and trust to his 
horse to escape the charge of the wounded elephant in case the first 
shot fails to kill, as often happens. In the forest or in very rough 
o-round, however, a horse is worse than useless and is sent to the rear, 
the shooting being done on foot and the men taking advantage of the 
trees and dense underbrush to escape should the elephant sight them. 
In any case this animal is one of the most dangerous and the sight of 
a wounded elephant, furious with rage and pain, charging down is 
one never to be forgotten should the adventurous huntsman survive to 
tell the tale. 

Having taken up the desired position the hunter awaits a favor- 
able opportunity and then tries to shoot the elephant either in the 
forehead between the eyes or just back of the foreshoulder, as many 
times as possible. Should one of these shots take effect, the elephant 
will fall, but often a great many shots are necessary because of the 
thick tough skin. 

A FAMOUS HUNTER TELLS THIS THRILLING STORY. 

"On the 27th, as day dawned, I left my shooting-hole, and pro- 
ceeded to inspect the spoor of my wounded rhinoceros. After follow- 
ing it for some distance I came to an abrupt hillock, and fancying that 
from the summit a good view might be obtained of the surrounding 
country, I left my followers to seek the spoor, while I ascended. I did 
not raise my eyes from the ground until I had reached the highest pin- 
nacle of rock. I then looked east, and to my inexpressible gratification, 
beheld a troop of nine or ten elephants quietly browsing within a 
quarter of a mile of me. I allowed myself only one glance at them, 
nnd then rushed down to warn my followers to be silent. A' council of 
war was hastily held, the result of which was my ordering Isaac to 



!6 2 THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

ride hard to camp, with instructions to return as quickly as possible, 
accompanied by Kleinboy, and to bring me my dogs, the large Dutch 
rifle, and a fresh horse. I once more ascended the hillock to feast my 
eyes upon the enchanting sight before me, and, drawing out my spy- 
glass, narrowly watched the motions of the elephants. The herd 
consisted entirely of females, several of which were followed by small 
calves. 

"Presently, on reconnoitering the surrounding country, I dis- 
covered a second herd, consisting of five bull elephants, which were 
quietly feeding about a mile to the northward. The cows were feed- 
ing toward a rocky ridge that stretched away from the base of the 
hillock on which I stood. Burning with impatience to commence the 
attack, I resolved to try the stalking system with these, and to hunt 
the troop of bulls with dogs and horses. Having thus decided, I 
directed the guides to watch the elephants from the summit of the 
hillock, and with a beating heart I approached them. The ground and 
wind favoring me, I soon gained the rocky ridge toward which they 
were feeding. They were now within one hundred yards, and I 
resolved to enjoy the pleasure of watching their movements for a 
little before I fired. They continued to feed slowly toward me, break- 
ing the branches from the trees with their trunks, and eating the leaves 
and tender shoots. I soon selected the finest in the herd, and kept 
my eye on her in particular. At 'length two of the troop had walked 
slowly past at about sixty yards, and the one which I had selected was 
feeding with two others, on a thorny tree before me. 

"My hand was now as steady as the rock on which it rested; so, 
taking a deliberate aim, I let fly at her head, a little behind the eye. 
She got it hard and sharp, just where I aimed, but it did not seem 
to affect her much. Uttering a loud cry, she wheeled about, when 
I gave her the second ball close behind the shoulder. All the elephants 
uttered a strange rumbling noise, and made off in a line to the north- 
ward at a brisk ambling pace, their huge, fan-like ears flapping in the 
ratio of their speed. I did not wait to load, but ran back to the hillock 
to obtain a view. On gaining its summit, the guides pointed out the 
elephants: they were standing in a grove of shady trees, but the 
wounded one was some distance behind with another elephant, doubt- 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 163 

less its particular friend, who was endeavoring to assist it. These 
elephants had probably never before heard the report of a gun, and, 
having neither seen nor smelt me, they were unaware of the presence 
of man, and did not seem inclined to go any further. Presently my 
men hove in sight, bringing the dogs; and when these came up, 1 
waited some time before commencing the attack, that the dogs and 
horses might recover their wind. We then rode slowly toward the 
elephants, and had advanced within two hundred yards of them when, 
the ground being open, they observed us and made off in an easterly 
direction; but the wounded one immediately dropped astern, and the 
next moment was surrounded by the dogs, which, barking angrily, 
seemed to engross all her attention. 

"Having placed myself between her and the retreating troop, I 
dismounted to fire, within forty yards of her, in open ground. Coles- 
berg was extremely afraid of the elephants, and gave me much trouble, 
jerking my arm when I tried to fire. At length I let fly; but, on 
endeavoring to regain my saddle, Colesberg declined to allow me to 
mount; and when I tried to lead him, and run for it, he only backed 
toward the wounded elephant. At this moment I heard another ele- 
phant close behind; and looking about, I beheld the "friend," with 
uplifted trunk, charging down upon me at top speed, shrilly trumpet- 
ing, and following an old black pointer named Schwart, that was per- 
fectly deaf and trotted along before the enraged elephant quite unaware 
of what was behind him. I felt certain that she would have either me 
or my horse. T, however, determined not to relinquish my steed, but 
to hold on by the bridle. My men, who, of course, kept at a safe dis- 
tance, stood aghast with their mouths open, and for a few seconds my 
position was certainly not an enviable one. Fortunately, however, 
the dogs took off the attention of the elephants ; and just as they were 
upon me, I managed to spring into the saddle, where I was safe. As 
I turned my back to mount, the elephants were so very near that I 
really expected to feel one of their trunks lay hold of me. I rode up 
to Kleinboy for my double-barreled two-grooved rifle : he and Isaac 
were pale and almost speechless with fright. Returning to the charge, 
I was soon once more alongside and, firing from the saddle, I sent 
another brace of bullets into the wounded elephant. Colesberg was 
extremely unsteady, and destroyed the correctness of my aim. 



164 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



"The friend now seemed resolved to do some mischief, and charged 
me furiously, pursuing me to a distance of several hundred yards. I 
therefore deemed it proper to give her a gentle hint to act less offi- 
ciously, and, accordingly, having loaded, I approached within thirty 
yards, and gave it her sharp, right and left, behind the shoulder, upon 
which she at once made off with drooping trunk, evidently with a 
mortal wound. I never recur to this day's elephant shooting without 




AN ELEPHANT ROOTING UP A TREE 

regretting my folly in contenting myself with securing only one ele- 
phant. The first was now dying, and could not leave the ground, and 
the second was also mortally wounded, and I had only to follow and 
finish her ; but I foolishly allowed her to escape, while I amused myself 
with the first, which kept walking backward, and standing by every 
tree she passed. Two more shots finished her : on receiving them, she 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 165 

tossed her trunk up and down two or three times, and, falling on her 
broadside against a thorny tree, which yielded like grass before her 
enormous weight, she uttered a deep, hoarse cry, and expired. This 
was a very handsome old cow elephant, and was decidedly the best in 
the troop. She was in excellent condition, and carried a pair of long 
and perfect tusks. I was in high spirits at my success, and felt so 
perfectly satisfied with having killed one, that, although it was still 
early in the day, and my horses were fresh, I allowed the troop of five, 
bulls to remain unmolested, foolishly trusting to fall in with them 
next day." 

A herd of elephants is one of the most impressive sights known. 
To look down in a valley on a herd of two or three hundred, as is not 
unusual — every height and knoll dotted over with groups of them, 
while the bottom of the valley is filled with a dense and noble, living 
mass, is truly a marvelous sight. Their colossal forms at one moment 
are partially concealed by the trees which they are disfiguring with 
giant strength; and at another seen majestically emerging into the 
open glades bearing in their trunks the branches of trees with which 
they indolently protect themselves from the flies. 

The African elephant has never been domesticated as his Indian 
cousin has. Many good stories are told of the bravery, high intelli- 
gence and affection of elephants in India. Kipling tells us of "ele- 
phants a pilin' teak/' and it is a familiar sight in a lumber yard. In 
tiger hunting they are fearless and invaluable. Some there are so 
noted for their skill and reliability that they are reserved for royal 
sportsmen. However, the barbarous tribes of Africa have never 
dreamed of the possibility of rendering this lord of the jungle service- 
able in a domestic capacity ; and even among the colonists there exists 
an unaccountable superstition that his subjugation is not to be accom- 
plished. In India elephants become very adept at the catching and 
breaking of wild elephants, and were this method adopted in Africa 
and the native animal domesticated and used against other big game, 
it would become one of the greatest sports in the world. 

Once killed the elephant is of no use except for the ivory of his 
tusks. The natives and some Europeans, however, esteem elephant 
steak and baked elephant's feet great luxuries. The tusks are em- 



i66 THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

bedded in massive sockets spreading over the greater portion of the 
face, and the operation of hewing them out with an axe usually occu- 
pies several hours. A female with tusks is an African oddity unknown 
in India. 

The Rhinoceros, — The elephant, as the largest animal known, 
is entitled to first consideration, but the rhinoceros is a worthy rival 
from a sportsman's viewpoint. Upwards of six feet high at the 




HEAD OP A RHINOCEROS 

shoulders and about thirteen feet in extreme length, it is a ridiculous, 
yet awe-inspiring, sight to watch one charging along with short stubby 
tail angrily erect, the big ungainly body supported on short and seem- 
ingly inadequate legs. The head is large and long with small eyes 
placed well on the side. Their sight is very poor and this fact has 
saved many a man's life who had the presence of mind to lie down 
when facing a charge. However, their scent is so keen that it nearly 
compensates for the poor eyesight. The rhinoceros is bad tempered 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 167 

and resentful of interference. He usually charges a man on sight, 
and his enormous weight and strength, coupled with the two short 
horns on his snout, render him one of the most dangerous species of 
African game. The muzzle is long and somewhat flat and from this 
the two horns project, placed one behind the other and varying in 
length. Several men have been tossed on these deadly horns and by 
some miracle lived to tell the tale. All were badly crippled. The 
animal rarely fails to kill and mangle beyond recognition any hunter 
who either through an accident or nervousness misses his shot. There 
is a well known and authentic story of one terrible attack by a rhino. 
While a gang of twenty-one slaves was being taken down to the coast 
chained neck to neck, a big rhino took out of the bush and impaled the 
center man on his horn, breaking the necks of all the others by the 
suddenness of the shock. 

Rhinoceros are difficult to kill, as soft-nose bullets merely splash 
out on their thick, naked hides. Here again the big .450 express rifle 
with its steel-jacketed bullets is invaluable. The brownish-black skin, 
rugged but without folds, makes a good target, and a shot either just 
behind the foreshoulder or in the curve between the neck and shoulder 
is apt to prove fatal. 

MR. CUM MING TELLS THE FOLLOWING INTERESTING STORY OF BEING 
CHASED BY A RHINOCEROS. 

"On the 22d, says Mr. Gumming, ordering my men to move on 
toward a fountain in the center of the plain, I rode forth with Ruyter, 
and held east through a grove of lofty and wide-spreading mimosas, 
most of which were more or less damaged by the gigantic strength of 
a troop of elephants, which had passed there about twelve months 
before. Having proceeded about two miles with large herds of game 
on every side, I observed a crusty-looking, old bull borele, or black 
rhinoceros, cocking his ears one hundred yards in advance. He had 
not observed us ; and soon after he walked slowly toward us, and stood 
broadside to, eating some wait-a-bit thorns within fifty yards of me. 
I fired from my saddle, and sent a bullet in behind his shoulder, upon 
which he rushed forward about one hundred yards in tremendous con- 
sternation, blowing like a grampus, and then stood looking about 



i68 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



him. Presently he made off. I followed, but found it hard to come up 
with him. When I overtook him I saw the blood running freely from 
his wound. 

"The chase led through a large herd of blue wildebeests, zebras, 
and springboks, which gazed at us in utter amazement. At length 
I fired my second barrel, but my horse was fidgety, and I missed. I 
continued riding alongside of him, expecting in my ignorance that at 
length he would come to bay, which rhinoceroses never do ; when sud- 




A KIND OF GAME THAT NETS COULD NOT STOP 

denly he fell flat on his broadside on the ground, but recovering his 
feet, resumed his course as if nothing had happened. Becoming at 
last annoyed at the length of the chase, as I wished to keep my horses 
fresh for the elephants, and being indifferent whether I got the rhino- 
ceros or not, as I observed that his horn was completely worn down 
with age and the violence of his disposition, I determined to bring 
matters to a crisis; so, spurring my horse, I dashed ahead, and rode 
right in his path. Upon this, the hideous monster instantly charged 
me in the most resolute manner, blowing loudly through his nostrils; 




GIRAFFE IN THE LAGOON FIGHTING FOR HER YOUNG 

The Giraffe is found only in Africa. Its height is from 13 to 1 8 feet. Its beautiful long neck enables 

it to browse on the leaves of the trees. It fights with its feet 




-'^arr 








A CHIMPANZEE FAMILY 

The Chimpanzee is an Ape and native of Western Africa. It lives in caves and under rocks in 

large bands, and fights with great fury 



I ? WW 



M- 













•***;< :.- 









: 



_-. 



CROCODILES FIGHTING 

One of the dreaded reptiles of Africa. Resembles the alligator, which is found in America. The Crocodile 
feeds on fish, dogs and~ other animals which it surprises in the water 




ANT-EATERS FIGHTING 

These curious animals live on ants, which they dig out of the ant hills with their short legs and long claws, 
and lap them rapidly into their mouth with their curious long tape-like tongues 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS *6 9 

and, although I quickly wheeled about to my left, he followed me at 
such a furious pace for several hundred yards, with his horrid horny 
snout within a few yards of my horse's tail, that my little Bushman, 
who was looking on in great alarm, thought his master's destruction 
inevitable. It was certainly a very near thing; my horse was 
extremely afraid, and exerted his utmost energies on the occasion. 
The rhinoceros, however, wheeled about, and continued his former 
course ; and I, being perfectly satisfied with the interview which I had 
already enjoyed with him, had no desire to cultivate his acquaintance 
any further, and accordingly made for camp." 

When pursued, the animal dashes through the forest with 
tremendous speed, and marks its path by the dead trees which 
it brings to the ground, and the broken boughs which lie scattered 
in every direction. The havoc made by a cannon shot in passing- 
through the timbers of a line-of-battle ship may give some idea of the 
kind of destruction accomplished by the rhinoceros in its headlong- 
course. It is not easily overtaken; nor is it easily surprised, for it is 
protected, as we have said, by its keenness of scent and hearing. It 
can discern the approach of an enemy from a considerable distance; 
and it is well for it that these senses are so powerful, inasmuch as, 
owing to the smallness and deep-set position of its eyes, its range of 
vision is exceedingly limited. It is said that it is also assisted by the 
warnings of a bird, the Buphaga Africana, which frequently accom- 
panies the rhinoceros, and seems to be animated by a strong feeling of 
attachment for its unwieldy friend, and indicates the approach of 
clanger by a signal-cry. 

Like most of the tropical animals, the rhinoceros rests or slum- 
bers during the day. At nightfall, it proceeds to the nearest lake or 
river to quench its thirst, and, by wallowing in the mud, to cover itself 
with a coat of clay as a protection against insects. Then it sallies 
forth on a foraging expedition, and in the course of the night covers 
a considerable extent of grounds. At sunrise it retires again to rest, 
and under the shade of a rock or a tree sleeps through the hot hours of 
the tropical day, either standing erect, or stretched out at full length. 

The organs of scent of the rhinoceros are very acute, and as the 
creature seems to have a peculiar faculty for detecting the presence 

F 



170 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



of human beings, it is necessary for the hunters to use the greatest 
circumspection when they approach it, whether to avoid or to kill, as 
in the one case it may probably be taken with a sudden fit of fury, and 
charge at them, or in the other case, it may take the alarm and escape. 

The upper lip is used by the rhinoceros as an instrument to seize 
or hold things fast, or with which it can grasp the herbage on which 
it feeds, or pick up small fruit from the ground. A tame rhinoceros 
in the Zoological Gardens will take a piece of bun or biscuit from a 
visitor's hand by means of the flexible upper lip. 

Elephant and Rhinoceros in Battle. — As we have spoken 
of the three great pachyderms and how each is so strong and mighty 
by itself — what would they do, were they to come together to dispute 
each other's path? As you know, the mighty pachyderms of Africa, 
the elephant, the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus, are pure vege- 
tarians, and hence demand a large pasture-land uninhabited by other 
animals. When once they find such a place they guard it with jealous 
care from the intrusion of others. The hippopotamus has a great 
advantage over the elephant and rhinoceros in this respect, because 
he can get sufficient food from the plants which grow in the rivers and 
marshes. Other animals which might seek the same food flee at sight 
of this wild beast and leave him unmolested. The elephant and 
rhinoceros, on the other hand, are often compelled, by scarcity of food 
and other causes, to change their homes. It is a well-known fact that 
the elephant starts on long wanderings in quest of new pastures, 
usually traveling in parties of from six to fifteen. The rhinoceros 
seeks green marshy land in the same way, but with this difference, 
that, with the exception of the mating season, this grim old beast lives 
by himself a sort of hermit life. Now, when two such mighty and 
powerful animals as the elephant and the rhinoceros meet one another 
in their journeyings, one can imagine what a fierce battle is sure to 
follow. The rhinoceros usually begins with an attack upon his huge 
adversary. The elephant is much stronger and larger than the rhinoc- 
eros, but the latter, in spite of his clumsy body, is very quick in his 
movements, and often runs under the elephant, severely wounding him 
in the stomach with his horn. When these two animals fall upon each 
other in this hostile manner, the victorious one is usuallv the one which 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 171 

can best dodge the attacks of his foe. They usually pursue each other 
in a clumsy gallop, round and round, in a large circle, until the ground 
shakes beneath them. If the elephant succeeds in making use of his 
long tusks, the fate of the rhinoceros is sealed, for as soon as the 
elephant has speared his enemy he'stamps him to the ground with his 
heavy feet, then tries to render him harmless by destroying his head, 
and usually departs leaving a mangled carcass on the field. 

A peculiarity is noticed about the rhinoceros found in the forest. 
The upper lip hangs over and down in front a short distance. This 
is known as a prehensile lip and is not found in the rhino of the plains. 

An animal which is becoming very scarce and consequently 
desirable is Burchell's white rhinoceros. The color is a dirty brown- 
ish-white and except that it is much larger than the black rhino and the 
front horn is longer, the general description is the same as are its 
habits. Mr. Roosevelt was particularly anxious to secure a specimen 
of this species, as their rapid extinction makes it improbable that they 
will last more than a few years longer, in spite of the game laws which 
are being made more and more rigid. 

The Hippopotamus.— Next among the pachyderm family and 
in the hunter's estimation, comes the hippopotamus, the river horse of 
the ancients, though there is hardly any basis for the name save that it 
lives chiefly in or near the water. 

Not as large as the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus stands from four 
to five feet high at the shoulders and is from ten to eleven feet long. 

Hippo shooting is considered good sport. The hunter rarely 
ever secures an easy shot as the animals are found chiefly in the water 
and almost entirely submerged. Further than that, the skin, which is 
pinkish-brown in color, is so hard and thick that a shot must be very 
accurately placed to take effect. Its skin is naked, thick, and pene- 
trated by pores which exude or give out a thick, fatty liquid, which 
may perhaps be useful to it while in the water. The front part of the 
head is massive, and broader than that of any other living quadruped ; 
the nostrils are comparatively small slits, which are closed and water- 
tight during the frequent dives beneath the surface of the water; the 
eyes are prominent, and placed far back in the head ; and the ears are 
so short that they look as if they had been cropped. 



172 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



The best time to hunt hippo is at night and the place a "run" or 
path by which they go to water. There are flattened places on the 
banks often where the big ugly brutes come out to roll. The easiest 
and best thing to do is to climb a tree before moonrise near this run or 
rolling place and wait until the hippo's peculiar tooting challenge is 
heard or the noise of the great beast crashing through the forest or 
pounding along the run. This is the best sort of an opportunity to 
get a specimen, as, if the shooting has to be done from an island or from 
the bank on foot, a charge by the hippo may result very seriously. 




A BATTLE BETWEEN A BUFFALO AND A HIPPOPOTAMUS 

Though the enormous ungainly body is carried on very short legs, 
it is capable of considerable speed for a short distance on land and of 
swimming with perfect ease, and not only the rush but an attack with 
the heavy tusks placed on both sides of the big, thick, square head is 
to be feared. 

Hippos are comparatively numerous, and Mr. Cunninghame will 
undoubtedly take care that Mr. Roosevelt secures at least one specimen. 
The tusks are much valued as trophies, and the natives are very fond 
of the flesh. Another familiar use of the hippo in South and East 
Africa is to supply the hide for making the sjambok, the terrible 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



J 7.i 



African whip used on oxen and natives alike. It may be well to men- 
tion here that the ox is the draft animal universally used, as the dread 
tsetse fly which is found in many sections, is deadly to horses and 
almost as bad for mules. Oxen, however, seem to be more nearly 
immune. In Uganda, however, even the ox is barred out, and natives 
as porters are the only carriers possible. 

A Duel. — A traveler was witness to a duel between two male 
hippopotami which he records thus : 

"It was broad day; and, hidden on the river bank, I had been 
watching for some time the gambols of a herd of these animals, when 
all of a sudden two of the largest rose to the surface and rushed at each 
other. Their great hideous jaws were extended wide open, their eyes 
flaming with rage, each one seeming bent on the destruction of his 
enemy. They seized each other with their jaws; they stabbed and 
punched with their strong tusks, by turns advancing and retreating, 
now at the top of the water and sometimes at the bottom of the river. 
The foam-beaten waves were stained with their blood, and their 
furious roars were frightful to listen to. They showed very little tact 
in their movements, but on the other hand they exhibited piggish 
obstinacy in maintaining their ground, and frightful savageness in 
their demeanor. The combat lasted for an hour. Evidently they were 
mutually operating upon armor too hard to admit of their wounds 
being very dangerous. At last one of them turned his back on his 
enemy and went away, leaving the other victorious and master of the 
field of battle." 

The Zebra. — Still following the family of pachyderms, we come 
to the zebra. This curious animal might be called a cousin of the 
jackass so nearly alike is it in shape and general characteristics. It 
stands about four feet high at the shoulder and eight feet long. In 
shape it is light and symmetrical, with slender legs and small feet 
terminating in a solid hoof. The head is light and bony with ass-like 
ears. The tail is blackish and tufted at the end. Here, however, the 
resemblance to the above-mentioned animal ceases. The ground 
color of the hair is white, and the whole body, with the exception of 
the under side of the belly and the inside of the thighs, is covered with 
narrow black bands placed wider or closer together. The mane is 



i 7 4 THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

erect and bushy, alternately banded with black and white, as are the 
ears. On the face are brown stripes terminating in a bay nose. 
Another oddity is the bare spot on each of the four legs just above the 
knee. The female zebra is similar but smaller. 

The true zebra inhabits the hilly districts of Southern Africa, and 
is remarkable for its beauty and fierce and untamable nature. It is by 
far the most conspicuous and most beautiful of the horse tribe. The 
stripes which distinguish it from the ordinary asses are remarkably 
like those of the tiger in their arrangement. Those on its legs are 
horizontal, while those of its body are for the most part vertical. 

The zebra resembles the horse in its symmetry of shape, but is 
much handsomer in appearance, — its white body being elegantly 
marked with narrow bands of black. It was called the tiger-ass, by 
the ancients. It is a shy, wary, and obstinate animal; but there seems 
no reason why it should not be domesticated and made useful. In 
its native regions it prefers the loneliest and wildest localities, where 
it grazes, along with its fellows, on the steep declivities ; sentinels being 
posted on the most elevated rocks to give notice of the approach of 
an enemy. 

The signal is a loud, melancholy neigh, whereupon, with pricked 
ears and tails whisked to and fro, the whole herd gallops off to some 
remote spot. Strange to say, it permits the gnoo to occupy the same 
feeding-grounds, and troops of gnoos and zebras generally mingle in 
one immense herd. 

Burchell's Zebra. — Another variety of this species is known as 
Burchell's zebra. This animal is a little larger than the common 
species, standing about four feet six inches and with an extreme length 
of eight feet six inches. The body is round and supported on sturdy 
legs. The crest is arched and surmounted by a standing mane five 
inches high and blended black and white. In contrast with the pre- 
ceding species, the tail and ears are like those of a horse. The tail 
is thirty-five inches long, flowing and white. The muzzle' is black and 
the coat short and glossy. In further contrast to the common zebra, 
the ground color of the coat is sienna or reddish brown, irregularly 
banded with black and deep brown transverse stripes forming various 
figures. The belly and legs are pure white. 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 175 

Burchell's zebra or the yellow and black variety is found in great 
numbers north of the Orange River; and, seldom congregating in 
herds of fewer than eighty or a hundred, it abounds to a great extent 
in all the districts included between that noble stream and the southern 
tropic. Occupying the same regions and delighting in the same 
pastures as the brindled gnoo, it is rarely to be seen unless in the 
companionship of that fantastic animal, whose presence would seem 
to be almost indispensable to its happiness. It is singular enough that 
the members of two families so perfectly foreign to each other should 
display so great a predilection for each other's society, uniformly inter- 
mixing as they do, and herding in bonds of the closest friendship. 
Fierce, strong, fleet, and surpassingly beautiful, there is, perhaps, no 
quadruped in the creation, not even excepting the mountain zebra, 
more splendidly attired, or presenting a picture of more singularly 
attractive beauty, than this free-born child of the desert. 

It may be seen from this description how beautiful an animal this 
is. Unfortunately Burchell's species is not plentiful, and a sportsman 
is extremely lucky who secures one. It is easier to kill than the 
ordinary variety, as it is found chiefly on the plains, whereas the other 
inhabits the mountain slopes. The favorite method of hunting them 
is on horseback. If the rider can not get close enough for a standing- 
shot he can run them down and get a shot in that way. It is dangerous 
and exciting work to ride a horse at full speed over the African plains. 
The going is usually rough and the holes and burrows not infrequent. 
Should the pony put his foot in a wart-hog hole, it is apt to result in a 
broken leg for him or at least a bad spill for his rider, and if the animal 
he is chasing is a dangerous one, it may also charge the hunter in this 
embarrassing predicament and turn the bad spill into a tragedy. How- 
ever, this risk is all in the game of African hunting and must be 
discounted to thoroughly enjoy the sport. The two animals noted 
above are so like the horse that a word in regard to this well known 
and faithful servant will not seem out of place. 

The Horse. — If we were to search through the animal kingdom 
for a creature which would be able to run with the speed of a deer, to 
carry a man for many miles upon its back, or to draw heavv weights 
behind it, could we possibly find one more suitable for all these purposes 



i 7 6 THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

than the horse, or can we even imagine one which would be of greater 
value? What would we do without horses? How could we cultivate 
our fields, and how carry goods between places which are not connected 
by a railway? And how, without him, would be performed the many 
other duties which no animal can so well fulfil? 

It really seems as though nature had seen how useful a servant 
the horse might be to man, and, therefore, carefully modified his 
structure in order that he might be of the greatest possible use to us. 
She has given him both fleetness and strength. She has even formed 
his very back as though for the purpose of wearing the saddle, and 
his mouth as though for holding the bit, and has, moreover, gifted 
him with intelligence which shows him what he is required to do, and 
enables him to perform his work to the best of his ability. 

It is necessary to understand the way in which the leg of the horse 
is formed, for that is really the most important part of his frame. 
Without most carefully formed limbs he could never run with any 
great speed; no matter how powerful his body might be, his strength 
would be useless to him unless his legs were so formed as to enable 
him to use it ; and, even more important still, perhaps, by the structure 
of his limbs alone can he be saved from the evil effects of the shock 
which would be caused at every step when he happened to be passing 
over hard and stony soil. And so, as his legs are very important to 
him, it is only natural to suppose that we shall find that they are formed 
in some peculiar manner. 

Now, the hoof of the horse is very different from the nails of our 
own hands, though made of the same material. Much larger in size, 
it actually surrounds and encases the foot with a horny covering, thus 
protecting it from the many injuries with which it would otherwise 
meet. A horse, even when he is free and untamed, travels over many 
different kinds of ground, some of which are sprinkled with sharp 
flints, and others with piercing thorns, and, if his feet were not fur- 
nished with some hard and strong covering, the poor animal would 
certainly be lamed before very long. 

Many people think that the hoof is only a solid mass of horn ; but, 
it is not so at all. Besides possessing all the elastic springs, it is so 
formed that it is equally useful for standing and running alike upon 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



177 



hard and soft ground, for traveling over rocks and stones, and for 
climbing steep ascents, over which it would seem impossible that such 
an animal as the horse could ever pass. If you could examine a horse 
which had never been touched by the shoer or blacksmith, you would 
find that there is not only an outer ring of horn, but also an inner 
cushion, called the "frog," which rests upon the ground, and gives the 
foot a wonderfully secure hold. 

A horse which has never been shod can gallop over ice and never 




THE HORSE— AN ARAB STEED 
Noted for its beauty, strength, speed and its affection for its master 

slip, and can climb the side of a steep mountain which man himself can 
scarcely ascend. He can travel for scores of miles over the roughest 
and hardest ground, or can live in a soft and marshy district in which 
his feet sink deeply into the soil at almost every step. And yet, 
although they are in continuaLuse, his hoofs will never wear out faster 
than they are renewed by nature; and, if we could examine them on 
the day of the horse's death, we should find that they were just as 
sound and useful as when their owner was but just beginning life. 



I7 8 THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

There is really no need for horses to be shod at all. They would 
work far better without shoes of any kind, and all who have made the 
experiment have found that such is really the case, and that their 
horses are improved in every way by having their hoofs allowed to 
grow as nature intended them. What the shoer does is to cut away 
the frog of the foot which ought to rest upon the ground, and so to 
throw all the weight upon the outer part of the hoof. Then a rigid 
piece. of iron is nailed to the outer rim, so that all the beautiful elastic 
thin layers are prevented from working, while the hoof itself is split 
and damaged by the nails, and the animal is obliged to lift a needless 
weight at every step. 

This last may seem a small matter, and so it would be if the 
horse were only to travel for a short distance; but, when he has to 
cover many miles of ground with a rider upon his back, or to drag a 
heavy load behind him, the weight of the shoes adds very much to the 
work of the animal. Why, supposing that each foot is put to the 
ground only once in every six yards, and that each shoe weighs but 
four ounces, the horse has even then to lift rather more than two 
hundred and ninety-three pounds of extra weight for every mile he 
travels ; so that, in a twelve-mile journey, he would thus have altogether 
to raise more than a ton and a half, owing to the weight of his shoes 
alone ! 

Nature would never be so careless as to form the foot of one of 
her servants in such a manner that it would be in danger of wearing- 
out if it were not protected by an iron covering. She never allows 
any part of the frame of any of her servants to wear out from use, but 
forms all the tools which she makes in such a manner that they are 
always fit for service, and ready to perform the full amount of work 
which is required of them. And this rule she has not broken in the 
hoof of the horse, which is one of the many wonderful instances of 
the perfection which is to be found in every tool formed by the hand 
of nature. 

In breaking the shock of the footfall, the hoof is very greatly 
assisted by the manner in which the bones of the leg are set upon 
one another. 

In order to explain this to you, however, I must ask you how 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 179 

you yourself place your legs when you are leaping' off a wall or a bank? 
Do you keep them perfectly stiff and straight, or do you bend them 
at the ankle, the knee, and the hip ? 

Why, the latter, of course. If you were to straighten them, and 
alight upon the soles of your feet, you would jar your body must 
dreadfully, and would very likely do yourself some very severe injury. 
But, by bending your limbs, the force of the blow which your feet 
receive has first to travel in one direction to your ankles, then in 
another to your knees, then back again to your hips, and, finally, 
forwards and upwards towards the head, so that it is broken no less 
than three times before it reaches your brain. If you cannot quite 
understand this, just make the experiment for yourself by jumping off 
a chair, and noticing in what attitude you alight upon the floor. 

Men and women, however, do not spend most of their lives in 
jumping, and tread so quietly, as a rule, that the brain receives but a 
very slight shock at each footstep. And so the human skeleton, when 
at rest, is perfectly upright, but possesses the power of bending at the 
joints when required. The horse, however, is very differently made, 
for his body is much heavier, and his gallop is, in fact, nothing but a 
succession of jumps, so to speak; and thus it is necessary that his 
bones should be set, not upright upon each other, but at an angle, so 
that the jar caused by each footstep may be broken before it can 
travel to the brain. 

Once more, as the horse is a very strong animal, and can undergo 
violent exertion for a very long time, his chest is broad and deep, so 
that plenty of room may be provided for large and powerful lungs. 

Every care, therefore, has been taken by nature to make the 
horse both a swift and a strong animal, and so it is well suited to be 
the servant of man. But he has found that he has so much work of 
different sorts to be done that it cannot be all performed by the same 
kind of animals. He may want to ride for long distances at very great 
speed, and so his horse must be formed something like a greyhound, 
slight and active, and able easily to bear the weight of its rider. But, 
then, he also wants his carriage to be drawn along the roads and his 
plow through the fields, and this cannot be done by the same horse. 
A race-horse is not heavy enough to plow, and a plow-horse is not 



180 THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

swift enough to race, while the carriage-horse ought to have some 
of the qualities of each, and to be more sturdy than the former, but 
swifter than the latter. 

And so man, by carefully selecting those animals which seem best 
suited to the different kinds of labor, and keeping each strictly to its 
special work, has obtained what we call the various breeds of horses, 
just as he has the breeds of dogs. He has, in fact, carried on nature's 
work, and, as we may say, has obtained three assistants in place of 
one, for the race-horse, the carriage-horse, and the dray-horse are so 
unlike one another that we might almost consider them to be different 
animals, if we did not happen to know the manner in which they had 
been obtained. 

The Quagga. — Another member of this interesting family is 
the quagga, an animal much like Burchell's zebra. The height at the 
shoulders is about the same, but the form is more robust. It has the 
same horse J like tail and ears, the latter marked with two irregular black 
bands. The crest is high, surmounted by a standing mane banded al- 
ternately brown and white. The color of the head, neck and upper 
parts of the body is reddish brown, irregularly banded and marked 
with dark brown stripes, stronger on the head and neck, and gradually 
becoming fainter until lost behind the shoulder. The dorsal line, or 
line running along the back, is broad and dark. The belly, legs and 
tail are white. 

The methods of hunting this beautiful animal are like those 
employed against the zebra. Either a charge on horseback and a trial 
of speed or by stalking — crawling along up the wind and taking every 
advantage of the peculiarities of the ground to conceal the hunter until 
he can get within range for a shot.. It is very difficult to put either of 
these methods into execution successfully, for the quagga as well as 
the zebra are extremely wary, and some sharpsighted animal, gen- 
erally a hartebeest, of which we shall speak later in its proper order, 
stands guard over the herd. One may easily imagine the feeling of 
disappointment which comes to a sportsman when, after crawling on 
hands and knees for an hour over ground so hot that it feels like the 
top of a stove and stubble so sharp that it cuts through the skin and 
leaves the hands raw and bleeding, to see the herd he is stalking sud- 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 181 

denly throw up their heads in alarm and dash rapidly away before he 
has had a chance for a shot. This is only one of many kinds of dis- 
appointments which must be borne with a smile and a hope to do better 
next time. If one imagines that hunting in Africa is simply a matter 
of standing still and shooting down animals on all sides, the only 
qualification necessary being ability to shoot fairly straight, by all 
means let him change his mind before he goes to try it. The sport 
requires not only the most accurate sort of shooting, and that under 
conditions of light and heat vibration which would make good shooting 
impossible for one unused to such conditions, but it requires the hardest 
work in making one's way through pathless jungles, endurance on a 
long chase after a wounded animal, perseverance through overwhelm- 
ing disappointments, and it is probably needless to say that life itself 
hangs almost continually on bravery and presence of mind. Rugged 
health is necessary to withstand the heat and the fever-bearing vapors 
which rise from every swamp, and other insidious diseases peculiar 
to the African climate, as well as the long hard marches sometimes 
necessary. 

If a would-be African sportsman is absolutely sure, through long 
trial and severe test, that he possesses all these qualifications, he may 
safely undertake such a trip as Mr. Roosevelt has made. It must be 
remembered that the ex-President was a man ranked with the greatest 
American sportsmen, having had many years of big game hunting in 
our own Rockies, in addition to his record as a brave and tireless 
soldier and all around athlete. Few men possess such qualifications, 
and without them it is well to stay out of Africa and confine oneself 
to some less rigorous and dangerous sport. 

The Wart-Hog.— To continue with the pachyderm family. We 
now come to the ugly and forbidding wart-hog, or African boar. This 
animal provides a great deal of sport, armed as he is with long and 
dangerous tusks. Although they are 'usually hunted with the smaller 
bore rifles, a sport is growing up gradually of spearing them from 
horseback like the sport of pigsticking, so popular in India. The 
British officers there have devoted a great deal of time to training 
their ponies and themselves to this exciting sport with the native 
Indian wild boar. 



1 82 THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ■ ANIMALS 

The wart-hog stands about two feet six inches high at the shoulder 
and is of a reddish brown color. The top of the head, upper part of 
the neck, shoulders and back are covered with long stiff bristles, those 
on the top of the head diverging like the radii of a circle. The canine 
leeth are very large and long, directed upwards and forming the afore- 
mentioned tusks. The head is very large and the muzzle very broad. 
A fleshy wen behind each eye and a warty excrescence on either side 
of the muzzle give the wart-hog its name. The tail is about twenty 
inches long, thin, straight and tufted with bristles. In spite of the 




THE WART-HOG 

Native of Africa — So called from the large fleshy lumps on the face — The upper 

teeth are bent outwards and upwards 

ugly head and body, the eyes are really their most forbidding char- 
acteristic. They are small and sinister. When the animal is disturbed 
they fairly blaze with rage. 

When attacked, the wart-hog usually runs for his burrow, for 
they live under ground as a rule, and it is a truly funny sight to see 
one going down this hole in the ground backward, as their custom is. 
They are rarely dangerous unless cornered or the horseman is thrown 
during the chase. If this happens the wart-hog is apt to turn and 
charge his fallen pursuer. In this case the long tusks may prove very 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS jS 3 

effectual weapons. The wart-hog inhabits the plains and forests, 
but it is only on the plains, of course, that the sport of pigsticking can 
be indulged in. 

The Wild Hog.— A near cousin of the wart-hog is the wild hog. 
This animal is one or two inches shorter at the shoulder than the wart- 
hog, with an extreme length of live or six feet. There are four toes 
on each of the feet, the middle two only touching the ground. The 
nose is elongated and consists of cartilage principally. The canine 
teeth on both jaws are very long and strong. The upper ones project 
horizontally and the lower teeth upward, forming four tusks. The 
color is dirty brown and the body is covered with long stiff bristles. 
The tail is over a foot long, thin and slightly tufted. 

In order to enable the hog family to "root" or turn up the ground, 
they are provided with a short and stubby nose, or snout, which is 
capable of considerable movement. The skin is more or less abun- 
dantly supplied with hair or bristle, and the tail is short, and in some 
cases merely represented by a tubercle, or knob. 

The sense of smell in the hog is very acute, and when its broad 
snout plows up the herbage, not a root, an insect, or a worm, escapes 
the sense of smell. Although credited with stupidity, the hog in its 
native state is to be styled anything but a dull and drowsy animal, 
neither is it the filthy animal that domestication has reduced it to. 
Properly cared for, the pig is as cleanly in its habits and as capable of 
strong attachments as any other creature. 

In its habits the wild hog is by choice herbiverous, feeding on 
plants, fruits, and roots ; but it will also eat snakes, lizards and various 
insects, and when pressed by hunger nothing appears to come amiss to 
its greedy appetite; it is stated that even dead horses are sometimes 
eaten from necessity. The hog is nocturnal in its habits, rarely leaving 
the shadow of the woods in the day-time and coming forth as twilight 
approaches in search of food, delighting in roots often deeply embedded 
in the soil, and which its keen sense of smell enables it easily to detect. 
Much mischief is often done by this animal, which plows up the 
ground in continuous furrows for long distances, and is not content, 
like the domesticated variety, with plowing up a spot here and there. 

There is no one of the many savage inhabitants of the forest 



184 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



which, when aroused, exhibits a more surly and vindictive temper than 
an old wild hog. In common with the rest of its tribe, it shows but 
little sagacity, and rushes upon any object that has excited its anger. 
In most instances, when its antagonists are other wild creatures, its 
thick hide and great strength enable it to pass through a conflict in 
safety. The long white tusks which arm its under jaws are kept 







PURSUIT OF THE WILD HOG 

sharp as razors by constant friction against the upper ones, and deadly 
are the blows it is able to deliver with them, striking with a sure aim 
and with great rapidity. 

Although, as a rule, the color of the wild pigs is black or brown, 
there are instances when the hue of the coat is not without beauty. 
Thus the Red River hog of Africa has long tufts to its ears, which are 
pointed and slender, and the fur is a rich reddish-brown, with the base 




THE SHIP OF THE DESERT— THE CAMEL 
The Camel is domesticated in Northern Africa as it is adapted for travel on the desert sands Its ^milk is 
used for food and its hair is woven into cloth. The skm is made into leather b> the Arabs 



«'^; : w^ 




AN OCELOT CAPTURES A FLAMINGO 

The Ocelot is a Tiger Cat; a most beautiful animal. It catches its prey by stratagem. The Flamingo lives in jungles 
and marshes. Has long legs and neck, and brilliant scarlet plumage. Height of bird is s feet 



~m 




VIPER CATCHING A FROG 

A Snake whose bite is poisonous. Feeds upon frogs, mice and other small animals, and found 
in some one variety in all the continents 



IV- : 



- ^ffit 







GIANT TURTLES 
So called from their size. They are killed for sake of their oil and fat 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 185 

of the hairs grayish- white ; and this animal has a gay appearance when 
seen among its more sombre-looking brethren. 

It is a popular belief that pigs are never injured by the poisons 
of snakes; and it is customary to turn a drove of these animals into 
a district infested by such reptiles, which in a short time is usually 
completely cleared of them. It is well known that pigs will destroy 
any rattlesnake they meet with, and this serpent is certainly provided 
with one of the most deadly of poisons, and it is a reptile not at all 
likely to submit to an attack from any quarter without using all its 
powers of defense. It is supposed that the pig receives the bite of the 
enraged snake on its cheek, where the fat and gristle are the thickest, 
and that, as there is little or no blood in that part, the poison is not 
carried through the system, so that the animal experiences no ill-effects 
from the virus. Whenever a serpent is spied, the pig, with erected 
bristles, rushes right upon it, and, indifferent to the formidable fangs 
that are perhaps sticking in its own hide, bites the reptile in pieces and 
then devours it. 

Boar Hunting was, and still is, a very favorite amusement in 
many parts of Europe, where these animals are abundant. It is car- 
ried on with all the bright color and show incident upon gay dresses 
and prancing steeds, baying hounds and blasts from the merrily-winded 
horn ; and many are the narrow escapes from the desperate charges of 
the infuriated wild boar as, when driven to a stand, with the hounds 
closing around him, he strives to free himself from the ranks of his 
pursuers. It is a feat of no slight danger at such a time to go up to 
him and calmly wait to receive him on the point of the short hunting 
spear. Should the aim be badly taken, or the animal be able to thrust 
the point of the weapon to one side, the glistening tusks would quickly 
deal a fatal wound as the object of his hatred was trampled under foot. 
On the continent of Europe the wild boar disputes the mastery of the 
forests with the great wolves that prowl amidst their recesses ; and by 
these snarling, cowardly brutes the flesh of their bristly-coated antago- 
nist is eagerly coveted. With young porkers the wolves have not 
much difficulty, and easily dispatch them, provided they find them 
strayed away from the protection of the grim father of the family, or 
their but little less savage mother. It is only in the depth of winter, 



i86 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 



when the ground is buried in snow, and they are half maddened by 
long fasts, that the wolves, banding together, attempt to overcome the 
grizzly old patriarch that at other times they fear to approach. Should 
they discover at such a season some solitary old boar roaming by 
himself, the howling pack immediately follows on his track, bringing 
others of their fellows to join in the chase, and, emboldened by num- 
bers, hurry after their wished-for prey. Well does he know the 
whining cry which echoes and re-echoes through the gloomy woods; 




mm 



THE WILD BOAR 



and the stern old recluse, casting quick glances on every side from his 
blood-shot eyes, trots rapidly over the snow, seeking some favoring 
thicket where he can give battle to his pursuers. He appreciates the 
danger that menaces him, and is fully aware that, should they overtake 
him in the open woods, their numbers would be more than a match 
even for his great strength; and when the shrill howls break clearer 
on the frosty air, as the eager wolves draw near he selects the matted 
base of some fallen tree, where the roots, twisting about in fanciful 



THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 187 

shapes, afford ample protection from any enemy who may attempt to 
attack him from behind ; and then, backing himself against this natural 
fortress, he awaits the onset of his foes. His assailants do not tarry 
long, and soon the foremost arrive, and prepare to rush upon their 
formidable-looking prey. Encircling his refuge, they avoid the dan- 
gerous teeth, and try to seize him from behind ; but the favoring roots 
are too thickly grown, and all their efforts are unavailing to reach 
him. Angered at being so foiled, several of them rush on him at once, 
hoping to distract his attention by numbers, but the massive head is 
quickly turned to either side, and the nearest wolf is hurled helpless to 
the ground, bleeding from several fearful gashes, while the remainder 
recoil to a safer distance to gnash their teeth with impotent rage. The 
grim inhabitant of the jungle, in the meanwhile, his small, wicked- 
looking eyes glancing fire, and the blood and froth falling from his 
open mouth, with his short tail curled tightly over his back, secure in 
his post of vantage, grunts aloud his defiance. The cries of the dis- 
comfited wolves bring others to their aid, and over the moonlit snow 
the shadowy forms of many loping creatures are seen advancing to 
help their brethren. Soon the fight will become more desperate and 
furious. Urged on by long-experienced hunger, the wolves will forget 
the danger in their desire to secure the prey, and, encouraged by 
numbers, will assail the boar on every side. He will not be idle, but, 
impelled by the great strength of his neck, the tusk will be used 
mercilessly, and the prostrate bodies of his foes will lie around and 
before him, crimsoning the snow with their life-blood as it streams 
from many a gaping wound, while the cries of the combatants arouse 
the sleeping echoes of the wood. At length, dismayed and discomfited 
by his valiant defense, the few survivors among his assailants will 
gradually slink away, leaving him to emerge from his secure position, 
2 victor in this desperate conflict at close quarters. 

In saying farewell to the pachyderm family here, it is proper to 
explain that the animals coming under this classification are hoofed 
quadrupeds or four-footed animals which do not chew the cud. In 
fact, the pachyderms are the first class we have come to which live 
almost entirely upon vegetation. 

We come now to another family which 'lives on vegetation, and, 



igg THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 

like the hog, has a hoof divided into two toes ; but the animals of this 
new group differ entirely from other animals in that they chew their 
cud, and receive a special name, ruminants. This is a very large class, 
and it contains animals with which all are very familiar, because they 
are so common. The first one to suggest itself is the ox or cow. We 
have all seen the ox and cow come in on an evening from the pasture 
and lie down and appear to be eating and swallowing something when 
apparently they have nothing before them to take into their mouths. 
They are, in fact, chewing the cud. It is hardly necessary for us to 
go into a particular description of how this is done, but we can see for 
ourselves that, while grazing, these animals nip off the grass between 
the large cutting teeth in front of the lower jaw and the tough pad on 
the upper jaw, which has no teeth, the tough pad taking their place. 
After each mouthful the animal does not proceed to chew it or cut it 
up into fine pieces with the teeth, as flesh-eating animals do, but instead 
it swallows it immediately, and continues thus to graze until it satisfies 
its appetite. Then, as you have no doubt noticed, it seeks a quiet and 
shaded spot, and there lying down, or standing, it chews the cud at 
leisure. If careful attention be given, it will be seen that there is a 
slight hiccough action just as it commences to chew. The mouth, 
which was empty, becomes full of coarse pieces of grass, which have 
previously been taken into the first stomach. This the animal imme- 
diately proceeds to chew with the large back teeth or grinders, in a 
slow and steady manner, moving its lower jaw back and forth from 
one side to the other, from right to left. When this chewing has lasted 
a little while, the food is mixed with the liquids of the mouth, and made 
into a pulpy or soft mass, when it is swallowed. Then there is another 
hiccough, and another quantity of food is taken through the same 
process. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

The Giraffe-Camel-Buffalo 

The Giraffe. — Passing on in the accepted order we come to the 
Ruminantia family or hoofed quadrupeds which chew the cud. 
The species under this heading are indeed interesting. First 
of all we find that marvelous animal the giraffe. Standing twelve feet 
high at the fore shoulders, his head towers majestically eighteen feet in 
the air, and the short sloping body mounted on legs seven feet long 
seems inadequately proportioned to the long tapering neck with its 




THE GIRAFFE 

With difficulty it can reach the ground with its lips 



slender thirty-four inch head. This head is peculiar in itself. It is 
narrow and sloping, covered with a hairy skin and terminating in a 
tuft of black hair. The upper lip is entire and there is no muzzle. 
The ears are large and pure white in color. The tongue is very long, 
pointed and flexible. It may be well to explain here why the giraffe 
possesses the peculiarities which distinguish him from all other 
animals. His height, he is taller than any other living being that man 

(189) 



i.9o THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— BUFFALO 

has knowledge of, is given to him in order that he may be able to reach 
up into the trees for the leaves which form his principal food. His 
peculiar tongue is so delicate that the giraffe is able to pluck a single 
blade of grass. The tongue can not only be lengthened or shortened 
at will, but can also be widened and contracted. In spite, of the huge 
size of the animal, it can pass its tongue into a tube which would 
scarcely admit of an ordinary lead pencil. When we consider the 




A HUNTER'S PARADISE 



great height of the giraffe's head and that it sometimes feeds on grass, 
it may easily be imagined that it is difficult and awkward for it to 
reach the ground. It accomplishes the feat, however, by spreading 
its front legs to their utmost extent and making full use of its long 
neck and flexible tongue above referred to. The giraffe being naturally 
defenseless, is compelled to depend on speed to enable him to escape 



THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— BUFFALO 191 

an enemy. The long legs provide him with this, and one of the big 
animals at full speed is too fast for any beast in the forest or on the 
plains of Africa. The sportsman's only hope is to kill or injure badly 
with the first shot, for once frightened they are away like an express 
train. It takes only a few steps for them to acquire tremendous speed, 
and the little African ponies used as saddle horses are soon left far 
in the rear. It must not be imagined that man is the sole enemy of the 
giraffe. Lions and leopards kill great numbers of them, and it is to 
avoid such attacks that they are often seen running with their peculiar 
rocking, ugly gait across the plains at a tremendous pace. Their 
height and the odd deep sienna color of the body, covered with rust- 
colored spots darker in the center, makes the giraffe very conspicuous 
when in the open and the object of continual stalking by the beasts of 
prey. This naturally renders them so extremely wary and difficult 
shooting that the bagging of a giraffe is considered a big day's work. 
Nature has provided them with a means of protection little understood. 
When in the forest where the giraffe naturally belongs, his gaudy 
coloring blends so thoroughly with the tropical foliage that it is hard 
to distinguish one from a tree or a tree from a giraffe. Even the 
natives are unable to distinguish them at any distance in the forest. 
When on the run, as might be expected, the animal is very odd look- 
ing. It proceeds by a series of awkward bounds, while the tail is 
swung from side to side and the long neck rocks to and fro as if it 
were loose in its socket. , 

The Swiftness of the Giraffe. — A native came one day in 
great haste to inform his master, a great traveler, that he had seen 
in the neighborhood a giraffe browsing upon the limbs of a mimosa 
tree. "Full of joy, I instantly leaped upon one of my horses, and made 
my servant mount another, and, followed by my dogs, I galloped 
towards the mimosa indicated, but the giraffe was no longer there. We 
saw him crossing the plain on the western side, and we spurred on to 
overtake him. He was trotting along lightly, without, however, 
exerting himself unduly. We pressed the chase, and from time to 
time fired several shots after him; but imperceptibly he gained so 
much upon us, that after following him for three hours, we were 
forced to stop, our horses being quite blown, and we lost sight of 
him." Here is a graphic picture of a giraffe hunt : 



1 92 THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— BUFFALO 

"Our stealthy approach/' says the writer, "was opposed by 
an ill-tempered rhinoceros, which, with her ugly calf, stood directly 
in the path; and the twinkling of her bright little eyes, accompanied 
by a restless rolling of the body, giving earnest of her intention to 
charge. A discharge of musketry, however, put her to flight, and I 
set spurs to my horse. At the report of the gun and the sudden 
clattering of hoofs, away bounded the giraffes in picturesque confu- 
sion, clearing the ground by a series of froglike hops, and soon leaving 
me far in the rear. Twice were their towering forms concealed from 
view by a park of trees, which we entered almost at the same instant ; 
and twice, in emerging from the labyrinth, did I perceive them tilting 
over a hill far in advance. 

"In the course of five minutes the fugitives arrived at a small 
river, the treacherous sands of which receiving their long legs, their 
flight was greatly retarded ; and, after floundering to the opposite side, 
and scrambling to the top of the bank, I perceived that their race was 
run. Patting the steaming neck of my good steed, I urged him again 
to his utmost, and instantly found myself by the side of the herd. The 
stately bull being readily distinguished from the rest by his dark 
chestnut robe and superior stature, I applied the muzzle of my rifle 
behind his dappled shoulder with my right hand, and drew both trig- 
gers. But he still continued to shuffle along, and being afraid of 
losing him, should I dismount, among the extensive mimosa groves 
with which the landscape was now obscured, I sat in my saddle, loading 
and firing behind the elbow; and then placing myself across his path 
until the tears trickled from his full brilliant eyes, his loftly frame 
began to totter, and at the seventeenth discharge from the deadly rifle, 
like a falling minaret bowing his graceful head from the skies, his 
proud form was prostrate in the dust." 

The meat of the giraffe is held in high regard by the natives, who 
cut it in strips and hang it out in the sun to dry. In the state of 
preservation that it acquires it is called biltong. The hide is used for 
making shoes and various other leather articles. The trail or foot- 
print left by the giraffe is a curious one, easily followed. It is shaped 
somewhat like a parallelogram, about eleven inches long, rounded at 
the heel and tapering toward the toe. However, the African jungle 



THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— BUFFALO 



193 



is so full of trails of animals of all sorts and it is so difficult to tell 
fresh ones from the old, that hunting is usually dependent on a sight 
of the animals themselves. 

The Camel.— This famous and useful animal, familiarly known 
to Eastern peoples as the "Ship of the Desert," is of incalculable value 
in crossing the hot sands of Africa, where no other animal can exist. 
Day after day it can travel on, browsing merely on the dry and 
withered thorns that are scattered here and there, and requiring little 
other food in order to enable it to perform its labors. And this is 




V^lVj 



THE CAMEL 
Peculiarly adapted for travel in the desert 



owing to a reason so singular and astonishing that it is hard to 
believe. 

The fact is, that during its long and painful journey the camel 
lives principally upon its own hump. Strange and impossible as it 
appears, this is nothing more than the bare truth; the animal lives 
upon its own hump. All we can tell is that, as time wears on, the 
hump gradually wastes away, and, though large and fat when the 
journey was begun, is little more than mere skin when it is ended. 

When, once more, the camel can rest from its labors, and obtain 



i 94 THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— BUFFALO 

a regular and abundant supply of food, the hump shortly regains its 
former plumpness, and not until it is again firm and strong is the 
animal allowed to return to its work. 

However, this is not the only case in which an animal feeds, so 
to speak, upon its own flesh. Most of the animals which pass the 
winter in sleep, as in the case of the bear, do so, for instance, for they 
lay up large stores of fat before their winter sleep comes on, and 
absorb it by slow degrees into their bodies as the time passes away. 
They live for several months upon their own fat, indeed, just as the 
camel lives upon its hump. You will think that they must require very 
little food, if they can exist for so long upon the food stored up in 
their bodies. The fact is, that while they are sleeping away the winter 
they scarcely breathe at all, and the less air that an animal breathes 
the less food it requires. The actual amount of nourishment, indeed, 
upon which a hedgehog or a dormouse can subsist during its winter 
sleep would hardly be sufficient to feed it even for three or four days 
during the summer. 

The camel must be able to endure long-continued thirst. 

Look at its stomach, and see how this is made possible. Like 
that of all animals which "chew the cud," such as the cow and the 
sheep, the stomach of the animal is divided into no less than four 
compartments. The first, which is called the paunch, or rumen, — 
whence the name of the family, the ruminants or cud chewers — re- 
ceives the food as soon as it is swallowed, but does not digest it. When 
the animal has time to masticate it, this food is returned to the mouth, 
but passes first into the second division, which is known as the honey- 
comb bag. In this part of the stomach the food is divided into balls, 
one of which at a time is sent back to the mouth, where it is thoroughly 
chewed, and then passed into the third compartment, which is called 
the manyplies, and which, in the camel, is almost wholly wanting. 
Lastly, it is sent into the fourth compartment, termed the reed, which 
is the true digestive stomach. 

Still, however, we have not learned how the camel can live for 
so long without requiring to drink. 

The fact is, that the cells in the second division of the stomach, 
which has earned for it the name of the "honeycomb bag," are very 



THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— BUFFALO 195 

large indeed, and are so formed that they can be opened and closed 
at will. In these cells the camel stores up, so to speak, the greater 
part of the water which it drinks, and so has a supply sufficient to 
last it for several days. When it becomes thirsty, it allows some 
of the contents of the cells to flow into the stomach, and so on until 
the whole stock is exhausted. This power of storing away water 
seems to be partly a matter of practice, for an old camel, which has 
gained experience, can lay up nearly as much again as a younger 
animal, and can manage to live without drinking for four or five days, 
even when traveling beneath the fierce sun of the desert. 

The camel must have strength to bear its heavy burdens, and 
endurance to enable it to plod steadily on from sunrise to sunset 
without giving away to fatigue. 

Perhaps there is no creature which has these qualities in so great 
a degree. A strong and healthy camel can carry a weight of from 
five to six hundred pounds, or more than a quarter of a ton, and can 
do so for hour after hour, and day after day, until the long journey 
is over, and it is allowed to rest and regain its former condition. 
The camel, however, possesses both strength and endurance, and so 
is wonderfully fitted for the hard and trying desert traffic. 

Lastly, the camel must be able to kneel, when required, upon 
the sand, without receiving wounds in its skin, which would fester, 
and so disable the animal for active service. 

Look at its chest, its elbows, its knees (as we wrongly call them) 
and its hocks. They are all furnished with hard pads of horn-like 
skin, which feels no pain, and cannot be cut through by friction with 
the keen-edged sand. These pads support most of the weight of the 
body, so that the far more delicate skin runs no risk of injury when 
the animal kneels, and is perfectly protected from harm. 

You must not think, as many people do, that these pads are not 
provided by nature, but are the result of often-repeated pressure. 
It is true enough that if we use our hands much for hard work, such 
as digging or wood-cutting, the skin of the palms becomes hard and 
horny, and this certainly is the result of constant pressure from the 
handles of our tools. But the animal is born with the pads. They do 
not come to it after it has been working for man for some little time, 



196 



THE GIRAFFE-CAMEL—BUFFALO 



and so we have direct proof that they are really a natural gift, provided 
in order that the animal may be suited to the work which it has to 
perform. 

Unless the camel could kneel on these pads, it would be useless 
to man, for it is so tall that it could neither be mounted nor loaded 
when standing upright, and so would not be of service either for 
riding or for carrying. As it is, however, it is an animal whose value 
can scarcely be held too highly, and well deserves the poetical name 
which the Arabs have given to it, the "Ship of the Desert." 




CALLING THE CAMELS 



The laborious and abstemious camel, like the palm, is all-essen- 
tial to the desert, as the desert is all-essential to it. Without its 
invaluable aid, the wastes of the Sahara, or of Libya and Nubia, 
would be impassable. It is properly styled the "treasure of the East;" 
and to the wandering tribes it is, in truth, their wealth, their life, their 
all. It supplies them with every article of primary necessity — with 
food, clothing, habitation, fuel, and the means of transport. The flesh 



THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— BUFFALO 197 

of the young camel is inferior to beef or mutton, but it is savory, and 
not difficult of digestion. The female yields an abundance of milk, 
almost as nutritious and agreeable to the taste as that of the cow. 
The hair makes a wool of coarse quality, but long, tough, stout, and 
easily worked. Out of the skin capital garments, coverings and tents 
are made; the sinews are manufactured into harness, and applied to 
various other purposes. Camel-leather is not inferior in suppleness 
or firmness to that which we use. The dung of the camel, dried in 
the sun, serves as fuel, not only for cooking food, but even for working 
metals. Finally, as we have said, as a beast of burden the camel 
surpasses all other animals in strength, swiftness, and the faculty of 
enduring fatigue; and, more particularly, in that proverbial abste- 
miousness which enables it to accomplish a journey of several succes- 
sive days without taking either food or drink. 

The camel finds it no hardship to be deprived of water for eight, 
nine or even ten days; and it is said, on what seems good authority, 
that it can even prolong its abstinence for twenty-three or twenty- 
five days. Its daily ration of solid food weighs about a pound or a 
pound and a quarter. When it has started on its journey fasting, 
it frequently obtains no better sustenance on the way than the tops 
of some dry and dirty branches, with a handful of dry beans for its 
evening meal. 

This remarkable power of endurance, however, is not its only 
good quality. If kindly treated, the camel is tractable and patient. Its 
strength is extraordinary, and its swiftness equals that of the ordinary 
horse. It can carry a burden of from six hundred to a thousand 
pounds from thirty to thirty-five miles a day. It must be added that 
it is not an agreeable animal to ride, owing to its rough, awkward, 
swinging gait. 

There are two varieties of camels — the Djemel and the Mahari. 
The former is the beast of burden ; the latter is reserved for traveling 
and the chase. 

The Buffalo. — Following the order of the ruminants, we next 
reach the buffalo. It is only necessary to look once at this ugly brute 
to realize his dangerous possibilities. Of all the African animals, not 
even excepting the uncertain tempered rhino, the buffalo must be 



1 9 8 THE GIRAFFE— CAMEL— B UFFALO 

approached with the greatest caution. He will almost invariably 
charge a man on sighting or scenting him, and as his eyes are very 
good and his hide so thick that a bullet must be very well placed to 
stop one, the wise hunter sees to it that he is within reach of a tree 
which can be quickly climbed before interfering with even a single 
buffalo. The charge of a herd is simply irresistible and actually car- 
ries all before it. Even small trees offer no opposition, and they go 
through the jungle like a traction engine. 

The full grown male stands about five feet six to eight inches 
high at the shoulders and is upwards of twelve feet in extreme length. 
His whole structure is very powerful, with a short neck and ponderous 
body, deep chested and mounted on short solid legs terminating in a 
divided hoof. The back is straight and hunchless and the head is 
short and small in proportion to the animal's bulk. It seems odd that 
the buffalo should be able to attain such high speed with the short legs 
nature has endowed him with, but one has only to witness one buffalo 
charge to be convinced of his great speed forever after. 

The buffalo's eyes are a very good indication of his character. 
They are small and sinister, overshadowed by rough and ponderous 
dark colored horns, nearly in contact at the base, spreading hori- 
zontally, and turned upwards and inwards at the tips, which measure 
from four to five feet between. The hide is bluish purple, black and 
bare with the exception of a few bristles. The muzzle is square and 
moist, shaped like that of the ox. The female is like the male, but 
smaller. They inhabit the plains and forests of the interior in large 
herds. 



CHAPTER XIX 

Graceful African Antelopes 

WITHOUT diverging from the species known as Ruminants, 
we now come to the division called Antelopes, a subfamily 
belonging to the old world and chiefly African Ruminants. 
They differ from cattle in their smaller size, more lithe and graceful 
form, slenderer legs, which are comparatively longer in the shank, and 




THE GNOO 

Resembles the Horse and Buffalo 

(i99) 



2oo GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 

longer neck with slenderer vertebrae, uplifting the head. The family 
of antelopes shades directly into that of the sheep and goats, being- 
separated from them by no technical characteristic, but the horns 
usually differ. Upwards of fifty African species have been described, 
but we shall not attempt to deal with very rare species, but shall confine 
ourselves to those well known and commonly met with. No agree- 
ment has been reached by naturalists upon the different divisions of the 
group. The antelopes include the smallest and most delicate gazelles, 
steinboks and springboks, the bulky eland and hartebeest, as well as 
the misshapen gnoo or wildebeest. We shall begin our description of 
this graceful and interesting family with the latter. 

The Gnoo. — Of all four-footed animals it is probably the most 
awkward and grotesque. Resembling in some respects both the horse 
and buffalo, the full-grown male stands upwards of four feet high at 
the shoulders and about nine feet in extreme length. In general con- 
tour, he is very muscular and exhibits great energy; The head is 
large and square with a large muzzle which is spread out and flattened, 
with narrow nostrils, Above the muzzle is placed a conspicuous tuft 
of black bristling hairs, which resemble a blacking brush. There is 
also a tuft of similar hair beneath each of the eyes. The latter are 
wild and fiery. The ears are pointed and short. White bristles sur- 
round the eye, spreading out like the radii of a circle. Similar white 
bristles appear on the upper lip. The horns are broad, placed close 
together at the base, furrowed upon the summit of the head and 
scarcely advancing from the skull, they taper out sideways over the 
eyes, and then take an upward turn, forming sharp and wicked hooks. 
The shoulder is deep and powerful, with a thick arched neck. The 
general color is deep brown with a white tail. It has been well said 
that the gnoo has the head of a buffalo, the mane and tail of a horse 
and the body and legs of an antelope. 

As the name "wildebeest" by which they are usually known 
implies, they are very wild and as they usually have a hartebeest as 
sentinel, they are extremely wary and difficult to approach. It is a gre- 
garious animal, fond of the society not only of its own kind, but of 
giraffes, and ostriches, and zebras, which all roam about together in 
one immense mixed herd. Its disposition is very much like its appear- 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 201 

ance; for it is extremely suspicious, curious, yet shy, and timid, though 
irritable. 

When frightened by any strange object, it begins to whisk its 
long white tail with strange rapidity, then takes a sudden leap into 
the air, and alighting on the ground, begins to paw and curvet like a 
frisky horse. It and its neighbors then chase each other in circles at 
their utmost speed; and when they halt to inspect the intruder, some 
of the bulls will often engage one another in the most violent manner, 
dropping on their knees each time they come in collision. Finally, 
they wheel around, kick up their heels, give their tails a final flourish, 
and scamper across the plain in a cloud of dust, as if pursued by some 
torturing demon ! 

The hunter avails himself of the curiosity of the gnoo, as the 
Eskimo does of that of the seal, to bring about its capture. He hoists 
a red rag on a stick or on the muzzle of his gun, and throwing him- 
self on the ground, awaits the result of his stratagem. At first the 
gnoo rushes off at full speed, as if seized with some. sudden fit; but 
soon its curiosity prevails over its fear. It turns ; it trots towards the 
unusual object; it retires; it wheels round and round; it draws nearer; 
and at last advances close enough for the hunter to deliver a mortal 
shot. 

The Brindled Gnoo. — There is another species of this remark- 
able animal known as the brindled gnoo. Slightly larger than the ordi- 
nary variety, it stands some four feet six inches high at the shoulder, 
and is about nine feet eight inches in extreme length. Other char- 
acteristics distinguish it. The neck is not arched, but the withers 
are elevated. The nose is aquiline and covered with coarse black hair. 
The muzzle is broad and square with large hanging nostrils. The 
horns are black, placed horizontally on the head with the points turned 
upwards and then acutely inwards. The neck carries a long and 
flowing mane which extends beyond the withers. The chin is covered 
with a bristly black beard descending to the breast. The eyes, too, 
are peculiar; they are small, black and piercing and mounted very 
high in the head. In contrast with the common variety, the tail is 
black and flowing, reaching to the ground. The general color is a 
dirty dun or brownish gray, variegated with obscure streaks or 



202 GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 

brindles from which the animal gets its name. The female is precisely 
similar, but smaller. 

The Eland. — The next in order is the eland or impoofo. This 
animal, while belonging to the order of ruminants, is the largest and 
most beautiful of the antelope family. Its height at the shoulder is 
about six feet six inches and the greatest length about twelve feet. In 
many ways the eland is much like the ox. The muzzle is broad and 
the facial line straight with a square forehead covered with a cluster 




THE ELAND 



of strong wiry brown hair, margined on either side by a yellow streak, 
commencing above the eyes, and nearly meeting half way down the 
face. The eyes are large and brilliant. The horns are placed on the 
summit of the forehead, are about two feet long, massive and nearly 
straight, with a ponderous ridge ascending in a spiral direction nearly 
to the tips. The neck is very thick and the shoulders deep and power- 
ful. The larynx is very prominent and there is a long dewlap fringed 
with long wiry brown hair descending to the knees. From the fore- 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 203 

head rises a crest of bristles which pass upward and along the edge of 
the neck. The legs are short and like those of an ox, with large hind 
quarters, and the tail is about two feet three or four inches long, 
tufted on the end with coarse brown hair. The hide of the eland is 
black, but the general color of the short hair which covers it is a sort 
of ashy gray tinged with ochre. 

Except for the watchfulness and quickness of this animal, it is 
not hard to hunt. If an approach can be made on horseback up the 
wind in some sort of shelter from view, it is not difficult in good 
country to ride them down. If the going is bad, however, it is better 
to shoot on foot, and in this case the huntsman must take every precau- 
tion not to alarm the game, and even with the greatest care many 
disappointments must be expected. Very often, just as the hunter is 
preparing to shoot, an incautious movement will alarm the game and 
they will go of! like the wind, and the stalk must be made over again. 

The Koodoo. — Continuing the antelopes, we come to the koo- 
doo. Majestic in its carriage and brilliant in its color, this species may 
with propriety be termed the king of the tribe. Other antelopes are 
stately, elegant or curious — but the solitude-seeking koodoo is abso- 
lutely regal! The ground color is a lively French gray approaching 
blue, with several transverse white bands passing over the back and 
loins; a copious mane and deeply fringed, tricolored dewlap setting 
off a pair of ponderous yet symmetrical horns, spirally twisted and 
exceeding three feet in length, brown in color, and the tips black 
with a white point. These are thrown along the back as the stately 
wearer dashes through the mazes of the forest or clambers the moun- 
tain side. The old bulls are invariably found apart from the females, 
which herd together in small groups and are destitute of horns. A 
full grown male stands upwards of five feet high at the shoulder and 
is over nine feet in extreme length. This beautiful animal is found 
chiefly in thickets and on wooded hills. The female koodoo is slighter, 
hornless and with fewer white markings. This species, as may well 
be imagined, is very attractive to the hunter and naturalist. 

The Hartebeest. — Another odd and interesting animal is the 
hartebeest, otherwise known as the red kongoni and as the caama. 
The predominating color is bright orange, and the legs and face are 



2o 4 GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 

eccentrically marked as if by the brush of a sign painter. A phe- 
nomenon of which most people are skeptical until it is actually shown 
to them is the fact that their brain as well as that of the gnoo is filled 
with white maggots. A further oddity is that the horns are placed on 
the very summit of the head, upon a prolongation of the frontal bone, 
instead of above the eyes as in other antelopes. The whole animal 
seems made up of triangles. The shoulders are very elevated, the 
cruppers drooping and the head very large and long, from which, as 
described above, the horns rise, diverging and again approaching each 
other so as to form a lozenge, with double bends strongly pronounced, 
turned forwards, and the points backwards, with several prominent 
knots on the front surface. A black spot begins at the base of the horns, 
continues behind and ends in front of the ears. Another black streak 
runs down the nose, commencing below the eyes and ending at the 
nostrils. The chin is black and there is a narrow black stripe down 
the back of the neck. Both fore and hind legs have black stripes. On 
both hams are triangular white spots and there is a yellow spot above 
each eye. The tail is covered with hair and reaches to the animal's 
hocks. The eyes are a fiery red. A male hartebeest stands about 
five feet high at the withers and is about nine feet long. The female 
is like the male, but smaller and with slighter horns. 

The Sassaybe. — Much like the hartebeest is the animal known 
as the sassaybe, and they are usually found grazing together. The 
male sassaybe stands four feet six inches high at the shoulder and 
about eight feet two inches long. The horns are strong and, like those 
of the hartebeest, are placed at the summit of the head, turning 
outwards and forming two crescents with* the points inwards. The 
body is bulky with slender legs and very high withers. The head is 
long, narrow and shapeless, with a straight facial line marked with a 
dark streak from between the horns to the nose and fawn-colored ears 
nine inches long. The general color is deep blackish purple-brown 
above and tawny under body. A dab of slate color extends from the 
middle of the shoulder to the knee; and another from the middle of 
the flank to the hock outside. A band of the same color passes across 
the inside of both fore and hind legs upon a tawny ground. The 
lower parts of the legs are of a deep tawny color. The tail is twenty- 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



205 



two inches long", yellowish red in color and covered with black hair. 
As usual in the antelope family, the female sassaybe is precisely similar 
but smaller with more slender horns. 

It may be easily seen that the markings of the hartebeest and 
sassaybe, while somewhat alike, are distinctive, and the animals impos- 
sible to mistake for one another even when some distance away. The 
methods of hunting them are like those described under the head of 
the zebra, and indeed are the same in the case of all animals of these 




THE HARNESS DEER 



general habits and descriptions. 



Stalking on foot is the surest and 
most practical method as a rule, and is the one adopted generally by 
most sportsmen. The animals are wary, and were it not for their 
habit of blindly following a leader, even though a considerable distance 
behind, shots would be even more difficult to obtain. 

The Sable Antelope. — One of the most beautiful, and from 
the sportsman's and naturalist's point of view desirable, animals known 
to the African wilds is the sable antelope. A famous hunter of the 
early '40s writes: "Our party were in full pursuit of a wounded 



2 o6 GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 

elephant when a herd of unusually dark-looking antelopes attracted 
observation in a neighboring valley. Reconnoitering them with a 
pocket telescope from the acclivity on which we stood, I at once 
exclaimed that they were perfectly new to science; and having 
announced my determination of pursuing them, if requisite, to the 
world's end, I dashed down the slope, followed by the derision of the 
Hottentots for my unsportsmanlike attentions to an 'ugly buck,' one 
specimen of which, however, I assured them I would rather have 
possessed than all the elephants in Africa!" It may be stated that 
this ardent sportsman's desire was gratified after three days of tire- 
some trailing by the securing of a fine buck of the species. The reader 
would readily understand the enthusiasm of the hunter could he see 
this splendid antelope in his native wilds. The height at the shoulder 
blades is about four feet six inches and the extreme length nearly nine 
feet. The horns are flat and upwards of three feet in length, sweeping 
gracefully over the back in the form of a crescent. A bushy mane 
extends from the chestnut colored ears to the middle of the back. The 
tail is long, black in color and tufted. The glossy jet black hue of the 
greater portion of the body contrasts beautifully with a snow white 
face and belly. 

The Roan Antelope.- — Another much sought species is the 
roan antelope or bastard gemsbok. Hunters and explorers usually 
agree that they are to be found chiefly on the ridges about the source 
of some rivers. This imposing animal is one of the largest members of 
the antelope family, being about the size of a large horse, but it has 
so little speed that it may be ridden down without any great difficulty, 
provided the ground permits of such a method. However, when it is 
unable to continue its flight it charges viciously as a rule, and the 
pursuer must be both a clever horseman and a good shot to avoid a 
serious encounter, with the chances in favor of his being left hors-de- 
combat on the field. 

Except for the head and tail, which are jet black, the coat is 
uniformly of a delicate roan color. The animal is heavily built and 
has an upright mane, long asinine ears, and strong scimitar-shaped, 
recurved horns, about two feet in length and having from twenty-five 
to thirty prominent rings. The head,' though its prevailing color is 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



207 



black, carries white markings, a white streak before and behind each 
eye, a white spot between the horns and a white muzzle. The female 
roan antelope is similar but smaller and hornless. 

The Water-Buck. — Another noble antelope of great interest 
to the adventurer in Africa, is the water-buck. This animal is about 
the size of an ass but of somewhat browner color. The hair is coarse 
like that of the Indian rusa stag and in texture resembles split whale- 
bone. The appearance of the male animal is stately; the eyes are 
large and brilliant; the horns ponderous and overhanging, three feet 
in length, white, ringed and placed almost perpendicularly on the head, 
the points being curved to the front. A mane encircles the neck and 
an elliptical white band the tail which is tufted at the end. The female 
is similar but slightly smaller and hornless as is usual in the antelope 
family. The flesh of both is coarse and so ill-savored that even savages 
are unable to eat it. 

The method of eating adopted by the less civilized of the African 
natives is both curious and disgusting to an American or European. 
When they are hungry, as is almost always the case, they do not wait 
for the game to be cooked, although they prefer it that way, but cutting 
out sections of the raw meat even before the animal is cold, plunge 
their teeth into great chunks of it and cut off the remainder close to 
their lips with the assegais or long-bladed native spears. The quantity 
of meat required to feed a large safari is almost incredible and not 
a scrap of an animal is left if the meat is edible, and there are very few 
things that a savage will not eat. Even the bones are brought to 
camp, picked clean and the marrow from the larger ones removed. 
When we consider that a native porter can consume as much as fifteen 
pounds of meat a day and that from five to seven pounds are absolutely 
necessary, it is easy to understand that an enormous quantity of game 
must be killed to supply food. 

Many African hunters have been severely criticized by the uniniti- 
ated for the seemingly useless slaughter of game, but when it is con- 
sidered that game is so plentiful that thinning out does not seem to 
hurt the quantity, and that native wild animals belong by right to the 
black man, it is proper and just that he should be fed by them. Further 
than that the lions killed in an average season by sportsmen would 



20S 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



destroy a far greater quantity of game than falls before the rifle. It is 
hoped that these facts will induce the reader to look upon the game 
reports without hasty and ill-considered judgment and with a clearer 
understanding of the facts and necessities involved. 

The Oryx. — We now come to a smaller species of antelope, the 




THE ORYX 



oryx or gemsbok. The male stands about three feet ten inches at the 
shoulder. The horns of the oryx are peculiar and worthy of note. 
Upwards of three feet long, they rise nearly or quite straight up from 
the head and seen in profile the long straight horns so exactly cover 
one another as to seem but one. Hence, this animal is supposed to 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



209 



have given rise to the fabulous story of the unicorn. It is one of the 
most magnificent animals in the universe, and fortunately is still com- 
mon in the interior. About the size of a small ass, the gemsbok, as it 
is more commonly known, is of about the same ground color, with a 
black stripe down the back and on each flank, with legs variegated 
with black bands, and a white face marked with the figure of a black 
noseband and head-stall, imparting altogether to the animal the 
appearance of being in half-mourning. The full black tail literally 
sweeps the ground. A mane reversed, and a tuft of flowing black 
hair on the breast and the slender straight horns common to both 
sexes, complete the picture of this beautiful creature. The gemsbok 
is a powerful and dangerous antagonist, charging viciously, and 
defending itself, when hard pressed, with wonderful intrepidity and 
address. Its skeleton has not infrequently been found locked in that 
of a lion — the latter having been transfixed by its formidable horns, 
in a conflict which has proved fatal to both the combatants. 

The Spring Buck. — A still smaller antelope is the spring buck 
and once hunted, never to be forgotten. When frightened and 
running away these elegant creatures take extraordinary bounds, 
rising with curved backs high into the air as if about to take flight and 
they invariably clear a road- or beaten track in this manner, as if their 
natural disposition to regard man as an enemy induced them to mis- 
trust even the ground upon which he had trod. 

These exquisite creatures are extremely obedient to a leader seem- 
ingly elected by them and may often be seen following him through 
complicated evolutions, reminding the spectator of a cavalry review 
with ostriches standing gravely about like general officers. This of 
course occurs only when they have no suspicion of a foreign and hostile 
presence. The male spring buck stands some two feet eight inches high 
at the shoulder. His head and face are white like a lamb's, the horns 
are black and strong, the tips turned inward and generally either for- 
ward or backward and having about twenty complete rings. The 
general color of the hair is a yellow dun with a white croup consist- 
ing of long hairs which can be erected or depressed at pleasure. The 
belly, throat and inside of legs are white, separated from the dun by 
a broad rich chestnut band along the flanks, another along the edges 



2io GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 

of the folds of the croup and a streak from the back of the horns 
through the eyes to the nose. The ears are long, slender and dirty- 
white in color and the eyes very large, dark and expressive. The 
female spring buck is very much like the male just described except 
that it is smaller and the horns are more slender. They are found 
usually in the plains of the interior in herds with other varieties of 
antelope. 

The Blesbok. — Another antelope frequently met with is the 




/BAKER HUNTING THE GEMSBOCK 



blesbok or white-faced antelope. The peculiar arrangement of the 
color scheme makes this species most interesting. The head is long 
and narrow with a broad muzzle and carries white horns twelve to 
fifteen inches long. They are strong at the base, taper and gradually 
diverge, marked with ten or twelve half-rings in front. The facial 
markings are very odd and distinctive. There is a patch of chocolate- 
colored hair at the base of the horns, divided by a narrow white streak, 
which suddenly widens between the eyes to the whole breadth of the 
face, down which it passes to the nose. The ears are long and white. 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 211 

The oddities do not stop here, but are found in the markings of the 
entire body. The sides of the head and neck are deep purple-chocolate, 
the back and shoulders bluish-white, as if glazed. Brown flanks and 
loins with a white belly and legs brown- outside and white within, 
yellowish-red chest and croup and a brown and white tail complete the 
picture of this remarkably handsome antelope. Large herds are found 
in the plains of the interior, often at salt deposits. 

The Bontebok. — A rather larger species of antelope than the 
preceding is the bontebok or pied antelope. However, it bears a close 
resemblance to the blesbok in point of shape, being equally robust, 
hump-backed and broad-nosed and possessed of the same fine venerable 
old-goatish expression, but it is more remarkably piebald, the legs 
being perfectly white and the horns black, instead of being light 
colored. The two animals have in common a broad blaze down the 
face, a glazed, bluish-white back having the appearance of a saddle 
and fiery-red eyes. The horns are placed vertically on the summit of 
the head and both species alike invariably scour against the wind with 
their noses close to the ground. This fact adds a little to their danger 
from sportsmen as it is only necessary to get "up wind" on sighting 
them and patiently wait until they come within range. African 
breezes are fickle things however, and a change of wind means a quick 
scenting of the strange presence and a mad rush for safety. 

The Pallah. — Forest lands and green and shady river-bank 
groves are often inhabited by forest-loving antelopes. One of the 
most graceful of these is the pallah with its knotted and queerly twisted 
horns of extraordinary size. Shy and capricious in its habits, the 
elegance of its form and the delicate finish of its limbs are unrivaled. 
The pallah stands very high on its legs, and moves with extreme grace. 
The color of the upper part of the body, the head and the neck, is deep- 
saffron or tawny. The- sides and hinder parts are a yellowish-dun and 
the belly white. The pallah is gregarious in small herds and is chiefly 
found on the thinly wooded banks of rivers. 

The Bush-Buck. — An animal varying somewhat from the 
typical structure of true antelopes, is the bush-buck or boschbok, which 
more nearly assumes that of the goat. Its horns are black, about 
twelve inches long, erect and spirally shaped. The general color of 



2I2 GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 

the bush-buck is a brilliant chestnut, black above, marked with a narrow 
white streak along the spine. Two white spots on each cheek, several 
on the flanks and two on each fetlock. The inside of thighs and chin 
are white, the forehead a deep sienna and a naked black band encircles 
the neck as if worn off by a collar. A particularly odd thing to be 
noted about the bush-buck is that they are never found in herds. The 
male is either accompanied by only one doe or alone. They are very 
difficult to shoot and usually a snap shot is all that it is possible to 
secure. 

The Reit-Buck. — One of the smaller species of antelopes is 
the reit-buck. The male stands but two feet ten inches high at the 
shoulder. The small head carries horns ten or twelve inches long. 
Advancing from the plane of the face in a regular curve, diverging 
and with the points forward. The general color of the coat is ashy- 
gray, tinged with ochre beneath white. The hair of the throat is white 
and flowing. Like many of the preceding antelopes, the reit-buck is 
found in small families or alone, principally among reeds, as his name 
indicates. 

The Nagor. — Otherwise known as the rooe rhee-buck, the nagor 
belongs to the class of the smallest African antelopes. The adult 
male stands about two feet eight inches high at the shoulder, with six- 
inch horns. The legs, head and neck are tawny, the chin and lower 
parts white. The body is a saffron brown, having a cast of purple, 
with long loose hair whirling in various directions. The nagor is 
usually found in rocky country. The female nagor is like the male, 
but hornless. 

The Rhee-Buck. — Standing 2 feet 5 inches at the shoulder, 
the rhee-buck is grouped with the small antelopes which are sometimes 
called gazelles, though there is no accepted definition of this family. 
The body of the rhee-buck is slender, with a long neck and small head, 
carrying nine-inch horns and small pointed ears. These horns are 
peculiar, being straight, slender and vertical, with from ten to fifteen 
rings at the base. The hair is very soft and resembles wool, whitish 
gray in color, with a cast of buff. The doe or female is like the male, 
but smaller and hornless. They, too, are chiefly to be found in rocky 
country. 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



213 



The Ourebi. — Still descending the antelope family in point of 
size, we next reach the ourebi, which is less than two feet high at the 
shoulder and very slight in body. The horns are four or five inches 
long, black, round and nearly vertical, wrinkled at the base. There is 
a white arch over the eyes and the tail is short and black. Otherwise 
the general color scheme is pale tawny beneath white and long white 




A LEOPARD ATTACKING THE SPRINGBOK 



hair at the throat. They are to be found in the grassy plains, usually 
in pairs. The doe may be recognized by the absence of horns. 

he KlipSpringer.— The well-known chamois of Europe has a 
close cousin in the African klipspringer. A peculiar antelope in that 
it lives on the mountain tops like a cony and is furnished with singu- 
larly coarse brittle hair, giving it almost the appearance of a hedge- 
hog. Its height is about twenty-two inches at the shoulder and the 



214 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



body is square and robust, with a short broad head and small pointed 
muzzle. The horns are about four inches long, round, distant, vertical 
but slightly inclined forwards. The fur is ashy colored at the base, 
brown in the middle and yellow at the tips, giving an agreeable olive 
appearance. The legs are robust for climbing and the hoofs sub- 
divided into two segments and jagged at the edges so as to give it the 
power of holding on to the steep sides of smooth rock. The doe, as 
usual, is hornless, and they are usually found in pairs, inhabiting the 
rocks and precipices. 

The Steenbok, — A species found chiefly among the bushes on 
high ground is the steenbuck or steenbok, as it is commonly known. 
Standing about twenty inches high at the shoulder, it is about thirty- 
five inches long. The head is short and oval, with a pointed snout and 
carrying horns vertical, parallel and nearly straight, four inches in 
length, slender, round and pointed. The ears are large, round and 
open, and the tail is but an inch long, having the appearance of a 
stump, beyond which the hair does not protrude. The general color 
of the steenbok is yellowish-red with occasionally a cast of brown or 
crimson. The belly is white and the groin naked and black. The buck 
and doe are usually found together, the doe being similar but hornless. 
Sometimes solitary. 

The Grysbok. — In size much like the steenbok, the grysbok is 
darker in color, being a deep chocolate red intermixed with numerous 
single white hairs. The forehead is marked with a black horseshoe- 
shaped design. The shape of the head is also somewhat like that of 
the steenbok, it being very broad and short and carrying an obtusely 
pointed nose. The horns are about three and a half inches long, 
smooth, round, slender and vertical or slightly inclined forward. They 
are found usually among the wooded tracts along the seacoast. 

The Duiker. — A somewhat larger antelope than those imme- 
diately preceding is the duiker, standing about two feet at the shoulder 
and having an extreme length of three feet eight inches. Its horns 
are about four inches long, close together and bending backward and 
outward, pointed tips and wrinkled at the base. The color scheme 
varies, but is usually a burnt olive above and white beneath. The 
forehead is covered with a patch of long bright tawny hair, a dark 



GRACEFUL AFRICAN ANTELOPES 



215 



streak on the chaffron, three dark fine lines inside each ear and a dark 
streak down the front of the legs, terminating- in a black fetlock as if 
booted, completes the coloring. The duiker is found, like the grysbok, 
along the coast in wooded and bushy tracts. 

The Kleenebok. — In coming to the kleenebok, or slate-colored 
antelope, we have reached the last and smallest of this graceful and 
beautiful antelope family. The little kleenebok when full grown is 
only fifteen inches high and about twenty-eight inches in total length. 
Its head is very long in comparison with its size, with a spacious 
muzzle somewhat resembling a rat's both in shape and expression. 
The ears also are round and black like a rat's. The horns are black, 
conical, reclined and slightly turned inwards and forwards. They are 
but two inches in length. In general color the delicate little animal is 
dull brownish buff or mouse color above and whitish underneath. The 
doe is even smaller and hornless. They are to be found in the forests 
along the seacoast. 

It is with regret that we take leave of this usually swift and 
gentle family, to pass on to uglier and more savage brutes, known as 
beasts of prey. 



CHAPTER XX 

The Lion and Other Beasts of Prey 

1~^he Cat Family. — There are interesting animals which are 
well known both in the wild and tame state and which we 
speak of as Beasts of Prey, because they feed on living things, 
which they are able to capture by their own great strength and cun- 
ning. Another name for this group is Carnivora or Flesh Eaters. 
Among these are placed the animals belonging to the Cat Tribe, 
which includes the lion, the leopard, and many others of lesser size. 
Other families of the beast of prey including dogs, hyenas, and wolves, 
will be considered in succeeding chapters. 

The Lion.— The most important member of this family from 
Mr. Roosevelt's point of view, and indeed from that of all hunters in 
African Wilds, is the lion. 

This much-sought beast is a native of Africa and Southwestern 
Asia, but in both continents is being driven back by the advance of 
civilization. The lion is distinguished from all other cats by the pre- 
sence of a large, thick mane in the adult male. A full-grown animal 
will measure rather more than eight feet from the nose to the end of 
the tail, which counts for nearly half, and is furnished at the end with 
a tuft of hair, in the center of which is a small horny prickle the use 
of which is unknown. The lion certainly does not employ it, as was 
once thought, to excite himself to fury by pricking his sides with it 
when he lashes his tail. The lioness is smaller than her mate and 
without a mane. She bears from two to four cubs at a litter, which 
native hunters often steal to sell to the dealers in wild beasts who 
supply the menageries, for the capture of a full-grown lion is rarely 
effected. The sire and dam both watch over their young, and train 
them to hunt prey. Thus young lions are more destructive than old 
ones ; the former kill for the sake of killing, the latter only to satisfy 
hunger and provide for their mates and her cubs. 

(216) 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 



217 



Lions generally lie in wait for their prey, concealed in the reeds 
near some place where other animals come to drink, and then, spring- 
ing from their lair, leap upon the victim, striking it down with the 
paws. The neck is usually broken with a violent wrench of the 
powerful jaws, and the carcass is carried off to be devoured at leisure. 
The lion does not disdain the flesh of animals killed by the hunter. 
Gordon Cumming frequently saw lions feeding on antelopes that had 




THE HUNTER'S ADVENTURE WITH A LION 

fallen by his rifle; and Stevens, who was sent by the New York 
Herald to find Stanley, saw three "bunched up inside the capacious 
carcass of a rhinoceros, and feeding off the foulest carrion imaginable." 
When pressed by hunger the. lion will approach a native village by 
night and carry off goats and calves, but fires and torches will scare 
him away. 

The lion has been called the king of beasts, and a good deal has 



2 i8 THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 

been written about his courage and magnanimity. The former has 
been exaggerated; the latter he does not possess. He will generally 
fight savagely if brought to bay, and the lioness, when with cubs, is 
still more dangerous; but as a general rule, "the king of beasts," if 
not molested, will bolt on sighting a man. 

The roar of the lion is extremely grand and striking, and at times 
a troop may be heard in concert, one taking the lead and three or 
four others chiming in like persons singing a catch. 

Does it not seem strange, if we come to think of it, that the 
lion which creeps up silently and by stealth to his prey, should yet 
possess a voice of such thunder that it may be heard from a very 
long distance indeed? If a lion were to roar, one would think that 
every animal in the neighborhood would take the alarm, and would 
at once fly from so dangerous an enemy. And surely such a voice 
would not have been given were it not intended to be used. 

The fact is that the lion, although his mighty voice certainly 
frightens his prey, nevertheless finds it of the greatest service to him 
at times, especially when he has been searching for food without 
success. At such times he places his nose upon the earth, and then 
roars several times as loudly as possible. The terrible sounds roll 
along the ground, seemingly from all directions at once, and so 
frighten all the animals which are crouching near, that in their alarm 
they rush hurriedly from their hiding-places, only to be pounced 
upon by the watchful lion. When hunters are making their arrange- 
ments for passing the night, they are always obliged to tether the 
horses and oxen very carefully, for fear that a lion should cause them 
to rush terror-stricken from the camp by adopting this peculiar 
method of attack. 

The Story of King Humbert's Lion. — The gardens attached 
to the Quirinal Palace, the present residence of the king and queen 
of Italy, are of a magical beauty. They are enclosed in high, close- 
cut hedges, and at every two or three steps you come upon some 
delightful surprise. Now a fountain, now a fernery, now an aviary, 
now a smooth lawn clothed with brilliant flower beds, now a grove 
of ancient oak trees with antique statues peeping from their myste- 
rious depths, now an exotic shrubbery, and, at last, most wonderful 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 



19 



suprise of all, hidden amidst azaleas, you find a cottage with iron 
bars in front, behind which paces a solitary lion. 

This is Goma, a present from the African king, Menelik, to his 
brother king, Humbert of Italy. He is a young lion, about three 
years old, very tall and handsome, but with a mane not yet fully 
grown, and was brought to Italy as a cub, so that he has never 




HUNTING THE LIONS 



known liberty or companionship. He came with an Abyssinian 
attendant, who shortly returned to his native land, and for whom is 
now substituted an Italian peasant girl. She keeps his parlor and 
bedroom clean, shutting him by an iron gate into the one or the 
other the while, for no one has ventured into his cage during his 
presence there, except once a stable boy, who put some fresh straw 
under him when he was ill, and had no reason to repent it, for Goma 



2 2o THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 

is of a most amiable and affectionate disposition. In default of any 
companion of his own kind he takes to human beings, roaring when 
his attendant goes away to fetch his meat, of which he consumes 
about twenty pounds daily. A hedgehog was once put into his cage 
to beguile his loneliness, but it pricked his nose, and he, therefore, 
very naturally objected to it. Then a tortoise was tried, and this 
experiment succeeded better. He played with it as a kitten plays 
with a ball, turning it over and over with his paw, and the tortoise 
had the sense to keep its head well inside its shell. He plays like 
a kitten, too, with a bell hung from the top of his cage for his enter- 
tainment. 

An artist had permission to paint his portrait, and he soon got 
very much attached to him. He scratched his head and tickled his 
nose, which pleased him, and in the end they became such friends 
that he startled the whole neighborhood with his roars when the 
artist left him. The first time he came to paint Goma, he sat down 
opposite the bars, with his paws crossed over his chest, and watched 
him intently. The artist tried to paint him in this attitude, but he 
would not continue it. The attitude chosen finally was his monotonous 
march to and fro in his cage. He took an interest in his picture 
to the last, but I doubt if his criticism was altogether favorable. 
There was one person against whom he had a spite — one of the 
king's splendid cuirassiers or guards, who would wander around in an 
amiable way and sit down opposite the cage with a newspaper. Goma 
would crouch, waiting till the man moved, when he would spring — 
vainly — against the bars of his cage. Nothing would induce him to 
trust that man, with the black moustache and suave manners, for 
doubtless he had tormented the poor caged beast on the sly. 

At the end of the season, the queen gave a select garden-party 
"to meet Goma," who was gracious to the guests, but forgot to 
modulate his voice, and conversed so loudly that they turned and fled. 

How a Lion Reasoned. — The following interesting story 
shows how a man with his superior powers of mind and courage can 
master even the king of beasts. 

Diederik Muller, one of the most intrepid and successful of 
modern lion-hunters in South Africa, had been out alone hunting in 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 



the wilds, when he came suddenly upon a lion, which, instead of 
giving way, seemed disposed, from the angry attitude he assumed, to 
dispute with him the dominion of the desert. Diederik instantly 
alighted, and confident of his unerring aim leveled his gun at the 
forehead of the lion, who was crouched in the act to spring, within 
fifteen paces of him; but at the moment the hunter fired, his horse, 
whose bridle was round his arm, started back and caused him to miss. 
The lion bounded forward, but stopped within a few paces, confronting 
Diederik who stood defenseless, his gun discharged, and his horse 




S*A/&&yCStP/V, 



THE LION IN PURSUIT 



running off. The man and the beast stood looking at each other in 
the face for a short space. At length the lion moved backward as if 
to go away. Diederik began to load his gun, the lion looked over 
his shoulder, growled, and returned. Diederik stood still. The lion 
again moved cautiously off, and the hunter continued to load and ram 
down his bullet. The lion again looked back and growled angrily: 
and this occurred repeatedly, until the animal had got off to some 
distance when it took fairly to its heels and bounded away. 

Adventure with a Lion Cub. — A gentleman had obtained a 
lion cub while quite young, and had carefully trained him as a pet, 



222 THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 

allowing him to wander about the house at will, and to sleep in his 
bedroom at night. One night he was awakened by feeling the rough 
tongue of the animal passing along his hand which was resting outside 
the bedclothes, for the lion was licking him just as a cat will those 
to whom she is very much attached, and the file-like points had cut 
through the skin and drawn the blood. He attempted, of course, to 
draw the hand away, but was at once stopped by a low growl from the 
lion, which had licked up the blood and was anxious to procure more. 

Now, the gentleman knew very well that a lion, when he has 
once tasted human blood, never afterwards loses his desire for it, and 
becomes what is called a "man-eater," that is, one which prowls about 
the roads and villages in hope of seizing some passer-by. He also 
knew that if he withdrew his hand the animal would at once spring 
upon him, and he therefore, although much grieved at the thought of 
losing his pet, drew a loaded pistol from beneath his pillow with his 
other hand, and shot the lion through the head. 

The lion is not as large a beast as many people think. However, 
the animal's length and great weight and strength make him an 
impressive and dangerous antagonist. The ears of the lion, both male 
and female, are round and black and the hair on the body and legs is 
short and of a tawny-yellow color, darker on the back and lighter on 
the belly. The upper parts of the head, the chin, neck, shoulders and 
belly are covered with long shaggy hairs forming a copious flowing 
mane, the color varying between tawny-brown and black according to 
the age of the animal. A black spot at each corner of the mouth, and 
the whiskers are strong and white. The eyes are yellow. The strong 
teeth of the lion are so fetid and filthy from the carrion he eats that a 
bite by one of them, even though not fatal in itself, often causes blood 
poisoning and death results. 

The Leopard. — Next in order of the cat family is the leopard. 
This animal is found in Africa and the warmer parts of Asia. He is 
about six feet long, of which the tail forms a little less than half. The 
fur is reddish-fawn, marked on the body with dark rosettes; the tail 
is tinged with black, and the under-surface is whitish. He is arboreal 
in habit — that is, he lives much more in the trees than on the ground ; 
in this respect differing from the lion and the tiger, which rarely climb 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 



223 



trees — so rarely, indeed, that some writers have doubted whether these 
larger cats have the power to do so. He is a very destructive animal, 
and preys upon sheep, goats, antelopes, and calves. Donkeys he leaves 
severely alone, because, to quote a recent writer on Eastern Equatorial 
Africa, "he knows well that a donkey, like a football-player, is gen- 
erally a good kick, and so prefers to give him a wide berth." 

He has a strange liking for dog-meat, and is always ready to dine 
off a dog, provided he be not too large. Dr. Pruen, in "The Arab 
and the African," tells an amusing story of the experiences of a 
leopard with two English mastiffs. His servant chained up the dogs 
on the veranda at dusk, and little time elapsed before a leopard, 
who had smelt dog from below, jumped in between them. He was 
evidently surprised at their size and still more so at the treatment he 
received, for "one dog got him by the head, the other by the tail, and 
the two quickly bowled him over. He lay perfectly still, astonished 
at the unexpected turn which events had taken, whilst the dogs, evi- 
dently puzzled at his quiet behavior, simply held him there and growled, 
but offered him no further violence. Before the men, who had been 
standing near, could return with their guns, the leopard had taken 
advantage of the dogs' indecision to suddenly wriggle away and dis- 
appear in the darkness, leaving them without even a scratch." 

He sometimes carries off old women and children, but rarely 
attacks men, though when wounded he fights with great fierceness, 
and sometimes succeeds in killing his foe. In 1892, a high official 
in India wounded a leopard, as he thought, mortally, when the beast 
sprang upon him, threw him down, and badly mauled his left arm. 
Fortunately, a native hunter came up and pinned the brute to the 
ground with a spear, when the Englishman scrambled to his feet, and 
killed the leopard with a shot through the head. 

Mr. dimming has published a volume containing a record of his 
hunting exploits in Africa, in the year 1848. The following interesting- 
accounts of adventures are from his work: 

"On the morning," says Mr. Cumming, "I rode into camp, after 
unsuccessfully following the spoor of a herd of elephants for two days, 
in a westerly course. Having partaken of some refreshment, I saddled 
up two steeds and rode down the bank of Ngotwani, with the Bushman, 



2 24 THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 

to seek for any game I might find. After riding about a mile along 
the river's green bank, I came suddenly upon an old male leopard, 
lying under the shade of a thorn grove, and panting from the great 
heat. Although I was within sixty yards of him, he had not heard the 
horse's tread. I thought he was a lioness, and, dismounting, took a rest 
in my saddle on the Old Gray, and sent a bullet into him. He sprang 
to his feet and ran half way down the river's bank, and stood to look 
about him, when I sent a second bullet into his person, and he dis- 
appeared over the bank. The ground being very dangerous, I did not 
disturb him by following then, but I at once sent Ruyter back to camp 
for the dogs. Presently he returned with Wolf and Boxer, very much 
done up with the sun. I rode forward, and, on looking over the bank, 
the leopard started up and sneaked off alongside of the tall reeds, and 
was instantly out of sight. I fired a random shot from the saddle to 
encourage the dogs, and shouted to them ; they, however, stood looking 
stupidly around, and would not take up his scent at all. I led them over 
his spoor, again and again, but to no purpose; the dogs seemed quite 
stupid, and yet they were Wolf and Boxer, my two best. 

"At length I gave it up as a lost affair, and was riding down the 
river's bank, when I heard Wolf give tongue behind me, and, galloping 
back, found him at bay with the leopard, immediately beneath where 
I had fired at him; he was very severely wounded, and had slipped 
down into the river's bed and doubled back, whereby he had thrown 
out both the dogs and myself. As I approached, he flew out upon Wolf 
and knocked him over, and then, running up the bed of the river, took 
shelter in a thick bush: Wolf, however, followed him, and at this 
moment my other dogs came up, having heard the shot, and bayed 
him fiercely. He sprang out upon them, and then crossed the river's 
bed, taking shelter beneath some large tangled roots on the opposite 
bank. As he crossed the river, I put a third bullet into him, firing 
from the saddle, and, as soon as he came to bay, I gave him a fourth, 
which finished him. This leopard was a very fine old male; in the 
conflict, the unfortunate Alert was wounded, as usual, getting his face 
torn open ; he was still going upon three legs, with all his breast laid 
bare by the first water-buck. 

"In the evening I directed my Hottentots to watch a fine pool in 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 225 

the river, and do their best, while 1 rode to a distant pool several miles 
up the Ngotwani, reported as very good for game, to lie all night and 
watch : my Totties, however, fearing 'Tao,' disobeyed me. On reach- 
ing the water I was bound for, I found it very promising, and, having 
fastened my two horses to a tree beneath the river's bank, I prepared a 
place of concealment close by, and laid down for the night. 

"The river's banks on each side were clad with groves of shady 
thorn trees. After I had lain some time, squadrons of buffaloes were 
heard coming on, until the shady grove on the east bank of the water 
immediately above me was alive with them. After some time the 
leaders ventured down the river's bank to drink, and this was the 
signal for a general rush into the large pool of water: they came on 
like a regiment of cavalry at a gallop, making a mighty din, and 
obscuring the air with a dense cloud of dust. At length I sent a ball 
into one of them, when the most tremendous rush followed up the 
bank, where they all stood still, listening attentively. I knew that the 
buffalo was severely wounded, but did not hear him fall. Some time 
after, I fired at a second, as they stood on the bank above me; this 
buffalo was also hard hit, but did not then fall. A little after, I fired at 
a third on the same spot; he ran forty yards, and, falling, groaned 
fearfully : this at once brought on a number of the others to butt their 
dying comrade, according to their benevolent custom. I then crept in 
toward them, and, firing my fourth shot, a second buffalo ran forward 
a few yards, and, falling, groaned as the last; her comrades, coming 
up, served her in the same manner. A second time I crept in, and, 
firing a fifth shot, a third buffalo ran forward, and fell close to her 
dying comrades : in a few minutes all the other buffaloes made off, and 
the sound of teeth tearing at the flesh was heard immediately. 

"I fancied it was the hyenas, and fired a shot to scare them from 
the flesh. All was still; and, being anxious to inspect the heads of 
the buffaloes, I went boldly forward, taking the native who accom- 
panied me, along with me. We were within about five yards of the 
nearest buffalo, when I observed a yellow mass lying alongside of him, 
and at the same instant a lion gave a deep growl, — I thought it was 
all over with me. The native shouted 'Tao/ and, springing away, 
instantly commenced blowing shrilly through a charmed piece of bone 



226 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 



which he wore on his necklace. I retreated to the native, and we then 
knelt down. The lion continued his meal, tearing away at the buffalo, 
and growling at his wife and family, who, I found next day, by the 
spoor, had accompanied him. Knowing that he would not molest me 
if I left him alone, I proposed to the native to go to our hole and lie 
down, but he would not hear of it, and entreated me to fire at the lion. 




JUNGLE INHABITANTS 

1 fired three different shots where I thought I saw him, but without 
any effect ; he would not so much as for a moment cease munching my 
buffalo. I then proceeded to lie down, and was soon asleep, the native 
keeping watch over our destinies. Some time after midnight other 
lions were heard coming on from other airts, and my old friend com- 
menced roaring so loudly that the native thought it proper to wake me. 
"The first old lion now wanted to drink, and held right away for 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 



227 



the two unfortunate steeds, roaring terribly. I felt rather alarmed for 
their safety; but, trusting that the lion had had flesh enough for one 
night, I lay still, and listened with an attentive ear. In a few minutes, 
to my utter horror, I heard him spring upon one of the steeds with an 
angry growl, and dash him to the earth ; the steed gave a slight groan, 
and all was still. I listened to hear the sound of teeth, but all continued 
still. Soon after this 'Tao/ was once more heard to be munching the 
buffalo. In a few minutes he came forward, and stood on the bank 
close above us, and roared most terribly, walking up and down, as if 
meditating some mischief. I now thought it high time to make a fire, 
and, quickly collecting some dry reeds and little sticks, in half a minute 
we had a cheerful blaze. The lion, which had not yet got our wind, 
came forward at once to find out what the deuce was up; but, not 
seeing to his entire satisfaction from the top of the bank he was pro- 
ceeding to descend by a game-path into the river-bed within a few 
yards of us. I happened at the very moment to go to this spot to fetch 
more wood, and, being entirely concealed from the lion's view above 
by the intervening high reeds, we actually met face to face ! The first 
notice I got was his sudden spring to one side, accompanied by repeated 
angry growls, while I involuntarily made a convulsive spring back- 
ward, at the same time giving a fearful shriek, such as I never before 
remember uttering. I fancied, just as he growled, he was coming 
upon me. We now heaped on more wood, and kept up a very strong 
fire until the day dawned, the lions feasting beside us all the time, 
notwithstanding the remonstrances of the little native, who, with a 
true Bechuana spirit, lamenting the loss of so much good flesh, kept 
continually shouting and pelting them with flaming brands. 

"The next morning, when it was clear, I arose and inspected the 
buffaloes. The three that had fallen were fine old cows, and two of 
them were partly consumed by the lions. The ground all around was 
packed flat with their spoor ; one particular spoor was nearly as large 
as that of a borele. I then proceeded to inspect the steeds; the sand 
around them was also covered with the lion's spoor. He had sprung 
upon the Old Gray but had done him no further injury than scratching 
his back through the skin: perhaps the lion had been scared by the 
rheims, or on discovering his spare condition, had preferred the 
buffalo." 



2 ?.2> THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 

Spar r man relates that a lion was once seen at the Cape to take a 
heifer in his mouth ; and though the legs of the latter dragged along 
the ground, yet he seemed to carry her off with the same ease that a 
cat does a rat. He likewise leaped over a broad dike with her, without 
the least difficulty. According to the testimony of others, he can drag 
the heaviest ox with ease a considerable way; and a horse, or smaller 
prey, he finds no difficulty in throwing upon his shoulder and carrying 
off to any distance he may find convenient. 

A very young lion was seen to carry off a horse about a mile from 
the spot where he killed it. In another instance a lion having borne 
off a heifer of two years old, was followed on the spoor or track, for 
full five hours, by a party on horseback, and throughout the distance, 
the carcass of the heifer was only once or twice discovered to have 
touched the ground. 

It is singular that the lion, which, according to many, always kills 
his prey immediately, if it belongs to the brute creation, is said fre- 
quently, although provoked, to content himself with merely wounding 
the human species; or at least to wait some time before he gives the 
fatal blow to the unhappy victim he has got under him. A farmer, 
who had the misfortune to be a spectator of a lion's seizing two of his 
oxen, at the very instant he had taken them out of his wagon, stated 
that they immediately fell down dead upon the spot, close to each other ; 
though, on examining the carcasses afterwards, it appeared that their 
backs only had been broken. In another instance, a father and his two 
sons, being on foot near a river on their estate, in search of a lion, the 
creature rushed out upon them, and threw one of them under his feet. 
The two others, however, had time enough to shoot the lion dead on 
the spot as it had lain across the youth so dearly related to them, with- 
out having done him any particular hurt. 

"I myself saw," says Sparrman, "near the upper part of Duyren- 
hoek River, an elderly Hottentot, who, at that time (his wounds being 
still open), bore under one eye, and underneath his cheek-bone, the 
ghastly marks of the bite of a lion, which did not think it worth his 
while to give him any other chastisement for having, together with his 
master (whom I also knew), and several other Christians, hunted a 
lion with great intrepidity, though without success. The conversation 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 



229 



ran everywhere in this part of the country upon one Bota, a farmer, 
and captain in the militia, who had lain for some time under a lion, 
and had received several bruises from the beast, having been, at the 
same time, a good deal bitten by him in one arm, as a token to remember 
him by; but upon the whole, had, in a manner, his life given him by 
this noble animal!" 

Mr. Smith, of Cape Town, went with about forty others to a 
neighboring hill to hunt wolves, which had committed various depre- 
dations among the sheep. While engaged in the chase, a lion sprang 
from a bush, and seized one of the Hottentots by the forehead. "I 
could not leave the man to be killed," he said, "I therefore went with 
my gun to shoot the lion. On observing me, he left the Hottentot and 
attacked me ; my gun was useless, for, in a moment, he caught my arm 
in his mouth, having directed my elbow towards him to defend my 
face. I held his throat down with my other hand, with my knee on 
his belly, and called out to the Hottentots to come to my assistance. 
When they heard I was in danger, they ventured their lives to save 
mine; — they came running, and one of them shot him dead; and we 
brought home his skin." His teeth met to the very bone of Mr. Smith's 
arm, and it was a long time before he recovered. The Hottentot who 
was first attacked, carried the marks of the lion tusks in his forehead 
all his days. 

The mode of Hottentot hunting has been described in terms of 
eulogy, from the earliest times. When the men of a kraal are out on 
the chase, and discover a wild beast of any considerable size, strength, 
and fierceness, they divide themselves into several parties, and endeavor 
to surround the beast, which, through their nimbleness of foot, they 
generally do very quickly; though, on the sight of such danger, "the 
beast, of whatsoever kind," says Kolben, "always betakes himself to 
all his shifts and to all his heels." 

When a lion, tiger, or leopard, is thus encompased, they attack 
him with spears and arrows. With flaming eyes and the wildest rage, 
the creature flies on the Hottentots who threw them. He is nimble; 
they are nimbler, and avoid him with astonishing dexterity, till they are 
relieved by others of the ring, who, plying him with fresh arrows and 
spears, bring him and all his fury on themselves. 



230 THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 

He leaps towards one so quickly, and apparently so surely, that 
the looker-on shudders for the Hottentot, expecting to see him torn to 
pieces in an instant. But, instead of this, the Hottentot leaps out in 
the twinkling of an eye, and the beast spends his rage on the ground. 
He turns, and leaps towards another, and another, and another, but 
still in vain; he is avoided with the quickness of thought, and he fights 
only with the air. All this time the arrows and spears shower on him 
in the rear. He grows mad with pain; and leaping from one party to 
another of his foes, and tumbling from time to time on the ground, to 
'break the arrows and spears that are fastened in him, he foams, yells, 
and roars most terribly. "If the beast is not quickly slain," says 
Kolben, "he is quickly convinced there is no dealing with so nimble 
an enemy ; and then he makes off with all his heels, and having by this 
time a multitude, perhaps, of poisoned arrows and spears in his back, 
the Hottentots let him go freely and follow him at a little distance. 
The poison quickly seizes him, and he runs not far before he falls." 

A Hottentot was out hunting, and perceiving an antelope feeding 
among some bushes, he approached in a creeping posture, and had 
rested his gun over an ant-hill to take a steady aim, when, observing 
that the creature's attention was suddenly and peculiarly excited by 
some object near him, he looked up and perceived with horror that a 
large lion was at that instant creeping forward and ready to spring 
on himself. Before he could change his posture, and direct his aim at 
this antagonist, the lion bounded forward, seized him with his talons, 
and crushed his left hand, as he endeavored to ward him off with it, 
between his savage jaws. In this extremity, the Hottentot had the 
presence of mind to turn the muzzle of his gun, which he still held in 
his right hand, into the lion's mouth, and then drawing the trigger, 
shot him dead through the brain. He lost his hand, but happily 
escaped any further injury. 

A Boor, named Lucas, was riding across the open plains, near the 
Little Fish River, one morning, about daybreak, and, observing a lion 
at a distance, he endeavored to avoid him by making a wide circuit. 
There were thousands of spring-bucks scattered over the extensive 
flats ; but the lion, from the open nature of the country, had probably 
been unsuccessful in hunting. 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 



231 



Lucas soon perceived, at least, that he was not disposed to let him 
pass without further parlance, and that he was rapidly advancing to 
the encounter ; and being without his rifle, and otherwise little inclined 
to any closer acquaintance, he turned off at right angles, laid the whip 
freely to the horse's flank, and galloped for life. But it was too late. 
The horse was fagged and bore a heavy man on his back, — the lion 
was fresh and furious with hunger, and came down upon him like a 
thunderbolt. In a few seconds he came up, and springing up behind 
Lucas, brought horse and man instantly to the ground. Happily the 
poor Boor was unhurt, and the lion was fully occupied in worrying 
the horse. 

Hardly knowing how it was done, he contrived to scramble out of 
the fray, and hurried at the top of his speed to the nearest house. 
Lucas, when relating his adventure, did not describe it as in any way 
remarkable, except as to the lion's audacity in pursuing a "Christian- 
man" without provocation, in open day. His greatest vexation ap- 
peared to arise from the loss- of his saddle. He returned next day, 
with a party of friends, to search for it, and to avenge himself on his 
foe, but they found only the horse's clean picked bones. Lucas re- 
marked that he could excuse the sckelm (the rascal) for killing his 
horse, as he had let himself escape; but then, as he said gravely, the 
saddle could be of no use to him, and he considered the depredator well 
deserved his most vehement invectives. 

Two Boors, returning from hunting a species of antelope, fell in 
with a leopard in a mountain ravine, and immediately gave chase to 
the creature. At first, he endeavored to escape by clambering up a 
precipice, but, being hotly pressed, and slightly wounded by a musket- 
ball, he turned on his pursuers, with that frantic ferocity which, on 
such emergencies, he so frequently displays, and, springing on the 
man who had fired at him, tore him from his horse to the ground, 
biting him, at the same time, very severely on the shoulder, and tearing 
his face and arms with his claws. The other hunter, seeing the danger 
of his comrade, sprang from his horse, and attempted to shoot the 
leopard through the head; but, whether owing to trepidation, the fear 
of wounding his friend, or the sudden motions of the animal, he 
unfortunately missed his aim. 



.232 THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 

The leopard, abandoning his prostrate enemy, darted, with 
redoubled fury, on his second antagonist ;* and so fierce and sudden 
was on his onset, that before the Boor could stab the leopard with his 
hunting-knife, the beast struck him in the eyes with his claws, and 
even tore the scarf over the forehead. In this frightful condition, the 
hunter grappled with the raging beast, and, struggling for life, they 
rolled together down a steep declivity. All this occurred so rapidly 
that the other man had scarcely time to recover from the confusion into 
which his feline foe had thrown him, to seize his gun, and rush forward 
to aid his comrade, when he beheld them in mortal conflict, rolling 
together down the steep bank. In a few moments he was at the 
bottom with them, but too late to save the life of his friend, who had 
so gallantly defended him. The leopard had torn open the jugular 
vein, and so dreadfully mangled the throat of the unfortunate man, 
that his death was inevitable; and his comrade had only the melancholy 
satisfaction of completing the destruction of the leopard, which was 
already much exhausted by several deep wounds in the breast, from 
the desperate knife of the expiring huntsman. 

On one occasion, a pair of leopards, with three cubs, entered a 
sheep-fold at the Cape of Good Hope. The old ones killed nearly a 
hundred sheep, and regaled themselves with the blood. When they 
were satiated, they tore a carcass into three pieces, and gave a part to 
each of the cubs. They then took each a whole sheep, and thus laden, 
began to move off, but were discovered in their retreat ; the female and 
the cubs were killed, while the male effected his escape. 

The leopard resembles in its habits the lion and the panther, but 
he is not so powerful. In one respect, however, he is superior to them ; 
that is the extreme pliability of his spine, which gives him a degree 
of velocity and agility surpassed by no other animal. With such 
astonishing rapidity does he climb trees, that few animals are safe 
from his ravages. Man alone seems to excite some respect; but if 
pressed hard in the pursuit by the hunter, he will turn upon him, and 
it requires both skill and prowess to guard against a leopard's attacks. 
Many instances have occurred of man becoming his victim, although 
generally he must be pressed to the onset; as when impelled by hunger. 
Sometimes leopards are used in the pursuit of antelopes. On these 



THE LION AND OTHER BEASTS OF PREY 233 

occasions the leopard is first hoodwinked, as falcons are; and as soon 
as the huntsman is near enough to the game the cap is taken off, the 
leader strokes his hands several times over the eyes of the animal, and 
turns his head towards the antelope. Scarcely does the leopard per- 
ceive it when he immediately springs forward; but if he does not 
succeed in overtaking the antelope in two or three leaps, he desists and 
quietly lies down. His leader again takes him up in his cart and gives 
him some meat and water to strengthen him. The attempt is then 
renewed ; but, if he fails a second time, he is quite discouraged, and is 
unfit for the chase for some days. The antelope possesses such elasticity 
that it makes leaps from thirty to forty paces, and therefore easily 
escapes from the leopard, and hence it is indispensable to get as near 
the game as possible. But if the leopard succeeds in catching the 
antelope, he leaps upon its back, and clings to it with his paws ; it falls 
down ; he thrusts his fangs in the neck of his hapless victim and sucks 
the blood, and then quietly follows his leader. 

The Hunting Leopard. — A rare species of leopard is the 
hunting leopard. The size of both sexes is about that of a greyhound, 
with a slender body and long legs. The belly and the insides of the 
legs are white, the rest pale-yellow, studded with small round black 
spots, larger on the back and outside of thighs. The hair of the upper 
part of the neck and withers is rather long, forming a small mane. 
There is a black stripe on the ears and another from the corners of the 
eyes to the angle of the mouth. The tail is ringed with black and 
white and tipped with white. It is only fair to state that this species is 
not at all common, and the sportsman who returns with a specimen is 
very lucky. 



CHAPTER XXI 



The Wild Dogs of Africa 

The Hyena. — Externally, the hyenas have somewhat the ap- 
pearance of extremely ugly and unattractive-looking dogs. 
They are somewhat larger than a shepherd's dog, and are 
covered with coarse bristly hair, short over the greater part of the 




THE STRIPED HY^NA 
A repulsive animal, but useful for removing dead animals 

body, but produced into a sort of mane along the ridge of the neck. 
The hyena walks stealthily on its toes rather than on the flat of its paw, 
its legs having much the same proportion as in an average dog, except 
for the fact that the hind legs are shorter than the fore legs, so that the 

(234) 



THE WILD DOGS OF AFRICA 235 

body slopes from the front shoulders to the rear haunches. The claws 
resemble those of the dog, in that they cannot be retracted in sheaths 
of skin; here, therefore, we have a great and marked difference from 
all the cat tribe. 

The hyenas, both the striped and spotted varieties, form part 
of that large body of animals which act as scavengers, or, in other 
words, which remove decaying animals and vegetable matter from the 
face of the earth, and so prevent it from giving off evil vapors which 
might be the cause of disease. These animals, in fact, perform in 
the world just the same service as do the street cleaners in our towns 
and villages, and form our first examples of the servants of nature 
whose work is just the same as that of certain servants of our own. 

Now, as there is so vast a quantity of refuse matter daily to be 
carried away, nature has divided her scavengers into several classes, 
to one of which is given the task of removing putrefying flesh, to 
another that of disposing of decaying vegetable matter, and so on. 
And the task of the hyenas is that of devouring the bones of animals 
killed by the cats, which you will recollect I told you they do not eat 
themselves, and also of those which may have died from other causes. 

As many of the animals which they devour are of very large 
size, it is evident enough that the jaws of the hyenas must be immensely 
strong, in order to enable them to perform their work of breaking 
bones and tearing flesh ; and no one who has ever seen a hyena engaged 
in feeding can doubt for a moment that nature has taken care to fulfil 
this requirement. With one bite of its powerful jaws it can crush the 
leg-bone of an ox to splinters, crunching it as easily as though it were 
a stick of celery, and seem to think no more of it than we should of a 
slice of bread and butter. 

As the hyena lives during the day-time in burrows which it 
scoops out by means of its fore legs, these limbs are very powerful, 
and the claws are large and strong. The whole strength of the animal, 
indeed, seems to lie in the head, shoulders, and fore legs, the hinder 
parts of the body being so small and feeble in comparison, that they 
indeed scarcely seem to form part of the same creature. 

The tail is bushy," the snout long, but blunt, giving the beast a 
snub-nosed appearance and a horribly vulgar expression, quite dif- 



c 3 o 



THE WILD DOGS OF AFRICA 



ferent to that of most of its relatives. The long-nosedness is partly, 
however, only a matter of external appearance, for the skull, although 
nothing like as short as a cat's, is yet very far from being as long as 
that of a dog or a civet, and it is still more cat-like in the immense 
width f 0f he cheek-arches, and the great development of bony ridges 
for the attachment of muscles. 

Like some other beasts of a similarly mean nature, the spotted 
hyena, in particular, prefers not to do its own killing, but likes better 
to live as a sort of humble messmate on those better provided than 
itself with the courage requisite to good hunters. When it does cater 
for itself, instead of subsisting on the leavings of its betters, it always 
makes its attack in a cowardly way, and trusts rather to stratagem 
than to any of the higher qualities of a sportsman. 

The Wild Dog. — A curious species belonging to this family is 
the wild dog. These animals, while not large, their height being under 
two feet at the shoulder, are able to run down even the larger species 
of antelope, giraffes, etc., by their untiring persistence. They hunt in 
large packs and when once on the trail of an animal rarely leave it 
until the animal falls exhausted and unable to resist their vicious 
attack. In form the wild dog is slight, and capable of great speed. 
The general color is a sandy-bay or ochre-yellow, irregularly blotched 
and brindled with black and variegated spots of exceedingly irregular 
shape. The face, nose and muzzle are black and the latter sharp 
pointed. The tail bushy like that of a fox and divided about the 
middle by a black ring, above which the color is sandy and below white. 
The Aard Wolf .—This is a remarkable animal, and inhabits the 
southern parts of Africa, where its home is almost the same as that of 
the brown variety of the hyena. It is an extremely interesting animal, 
as it forms a connecting link between the civet family and the hyenas ; 
although more nearly allied to the latter than to the former, it is found 
to be impossible to assign it to one of these groups in preference to 
the other, and it is, in consequence, placed in a family by itself. It 
has the sloping back of a hyena, owing to the fore legs being longer 
than the hind legs ; but its head is quite civet-like, the snout being long 
and pointed, and altogether unlike a hyena's. Its size is that of a 
full-grown fox, but it stands higher upon its legs, its ears are consid- 



THE WILD DOGS OF AFRICA 237 

erably larger and more naked, and its tail shorter and not so bushy. 
At first sight it might be easily taken for a young striped hyena, so 
closely does it resemble that animal in the colors and peculiar markings 
of its fur, and in the mane of long stiff hair which runs along the neck 
and back; indeed, it is only to be distinguished by its more pointed 
head, and by the additional fifth toes of the fore feet. It is also quite 
hyena-like in color, being of a dull yellowish-gray tint, and marked 
with dark brown stripes and a black muzzle. One who has seen it says : 
"In its habits and manners the aard wolf resembles the fox. Like 
that animal it is abroad at night, and constructs an underground 
burrow, at the bottom of which it lies concealed during the day time, 
and only ventures abroad on the approach of night to search for food, 
and satisfy the other calls of nature. It is fond of the society of its 
own species; at least many individuals have been found residing 
together in the same burrow; and, as they are of a timid and wary 
character, they have generally three or four entrances to this hole ; so 
that, if attacked on one side, they may secure a retreat in an opposite 
direction. Notwithstanding the extra length of their forelegs, they 
are said to run very fast, and so strong is their disposition to burrow, 
that one of these animals, perceiving itself about to be run down or 
captured, immediately ceased its flight, and began to scratch up the 
ground, as if with the intention of making a new hole in the ground." 
Its food consists very largely of carrion, but it also devours ants. 



CHAPTER XXII 

The Civet Family 

THE Civet family occupies a position between the true cats and 
the hyenas. They have long, thin bodies, short limbs, a long 
tail, and a sharp-pointed snout ; and are clothed with stiff, harsh 
fur. There are usually five digits or fingers on each limb, but those 




THE CIVET CAT 

Feeds upon birds and small quadrupeds 

corresponding to our thumb and great toe may be wanting; and in 
walking the wrist and ankle are brought much nearer the ground 
than is the case with the cats. The claws in most species can be but 
partially drawn back. The skull is longer than that of the cats, and 

(23V 



THE CIVET FAMILY 2^9 

its teeth are more numerous; the canine or sharp-pointed teeth are 
smaller, and the back-teeth less scissor-like, bearing, especially in the 
palm civets, little blunt projections, so as to crush or grind. There 
is a pouch under the tail, in which an odorous substance is secreted. 
These animals are confined to regions of Asia and Africa, with the 
exception of one species that is European. 

The true civet cats, from which the musky substance called 
civet is obtained, are the representatives and chief members of the 
family. The fur is coarse, yellowish-gray in color, more or less spotted 
or striped with black, and forming an erect mane on the back. They 
feed chiefly upon flesh, but also on fruits and roots. 

The African civet is a native of those parts of the Dark 
Continent lying between the tropics. It is somewhat larger than a 
common fox, and, like some other species, is kept in confinement for 
the sake of its strong-smelling secretion, which is used in the manu- 
facture of perfumery. The odor is far too strong to be pleasant, 
unless the civet is diluted with oil or spirit. The Asiatic civet, 
about the same size as the African, has a wide range in the East, 
where the natives keep it in cages, and care for it that they may 
obtain from it the fatty substance from which the perfume is made. 
The tangalung, from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the Philippines, 
and the Burmese civet, are of smaller size, but similar in habits. The 
spots of the latter are large and distinct. 

The Ichneumons are chiefly African, only the true ich- 
neumons ranging into Asia and Europe. They are also known as the 
mongoose. They vary in size from that of a large cat to that of a 
weasel, which animal many of them resemble in form. They live 
mostly on the ground, and feed on small mammals, birds, reptiles and 
their eggs, and insects. Some are domesticated as mousers and snake- 
killers. The common ichneumon of North Africa, found also in Spain, 
was a sacred animal among the ancient Egyptians. It is commonly 
domesticated at the present day, and makes an affectionate pet, and a 
capital servant in killing rats, mice, serpents, and lizards. The Indian 
ichneumon, or mongoose, is much smaller, with pale-gray fur. It is 
noted as a snake-killer ; and while some maintain that it is proof against 
snake-poison, others declare that when bitten the mongoose rushes 



2 4 o THE CIVET FAMILY 

away to feed on some herb that acts as an antidote. An observer kept 
one as a pet for some time, and says : "It traveled with me on horse- 
back in an empty holster, or in a pocket, or up my sleeve; and after- 
wards, when my duties as a settlement-officer took me out into camps, 
'Pips' was my constant companion. He was excessively clean, and 
after eating would pick his teeth with his claws in a most absurd 
manner. I do not know whether a mongoose in a wild state will eat 
carrion, but he would not touch anything tainted; and, though very 
fond of freshly-cooked game, would turn up his nose at high partridge 
or grouse. He was very fond of eggs, and, holding them in his fore- 
paws, would crack a little hole at the small end, out of which he would 
suck the contents. He was a very good ratter, and also killed many 
snakes against which I pitted him. His way seemed to be to tease the 
snake into darting at him, when, with inconceivable rapidity, he would 
pounce on the reptile's head. He seemed to know instinctively which 
were the poisonous ones, and acted with corresponding caution. I do 
not believe in the mongoose being proof against snake-poison, or in 
the antidote theory. Their extreme agility prevents their being bitten ; 
and the stiff, rigid hair which is excited at such times, and a thick, 
loose skin, are an additional protection. I think it has been proved 
that if the poison of a snake is injected into the veins of a mongoose 
it proves fatal." 

The Genettes are smaller than the civets, less stoutly built and 
with shorter limbs. They emit a musky odor, but there is no pouch 
in which the product of the scent-glands is stored up. The soft gray 
fur is spotted with brown or black. All. the species are African, but 
one, the common genette, is also found in the South of France, Spain, 
and Southwestern Asia. It is often domesticated as a mouser. 

The LinsangS are beautiful and graceful cat-like animals, with 
three species from Asia and one from Africa. The body is long and 
slender, the limbs short, the tail long and round, and ringed with black. 
In the Asiatic linsangs the ground color is rich buff or grayish-white, 
marked with oblong black patches. The African linsang, by far the 
largest, is marked with spots and small blotches. They are as much at 
home in trees as on the ground, and prey on small mammals ard birds. 
They become gentle in confinement and are easily tamed. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

The Monkey Tribes 

The Monkey Family.— It would be a curious sight indeed if one 
could see in a large Zoological Garden altogether, one of each 
kind of the apes and monkeys now living on the globe. There 
would be no end of fun, as they would run about grinning, chattering 
and pulling each other's tails. They would come from the forests and 




MANDRILL BABOON 
Found in the deep forests of Africa 

woods of Asia, and many adjacent islands, from Africa and South 
America. We imagine some of the monkeys would not know other 
monkeys, for they are peculiar in their habits. They have all kinds 
of temper and capacities, just like boys and girls. Gorillas are shy and 
cross, chimpanzees lively and kind, the baboon grumpy, spider monkeys 

(241) 



242 



THE MONKEY TRIBES 



restless, and other monkeys impudent and cunning. They are of all 
shades of color, and all shapes and sizes. Many are without tails, some 
without stumps, and others with long tails of no great use, except to 
afford fun to the mischievous. Others have long tails which they use 
as another hand, to hang to the limb by ; some have faces very human- 
like, others look more like dogs. Some can go almost erect, others 
go only on all fours; some swing from limb to limb by their tails, or 
holding together make bridges across streams for others to cross on. 




THE GORILLA AND HIS FAMILY 



Some like fruit and others eat vegetables. All of them seem to have 
a fondness for climbing, grasping, picking and stealing, for which 
they have good hands with fingers and thumbs with wrists in front, 
and hands, that is to say feet, with a great thumb-like toe behind. 
The monkeys of the old world do not have long tails which they can 
use. These seem to have been invented for the American monkeys, who 
have noses which are broad at the end, while the monkevs of the old 



THE MONKEY TRIBES 



243 



world have noses more like those of men and dogs. The large apes 
have long tails and no cheek pouches, but have very manlike features, 
including also what are known as chimpanzees and orangs belonging 
to the old world. Remember, that some monkeys are manlike, being 
able to walk on two legs, others are doglike, having doglike faces, and 
walking on all fours. 

Monkeys have been placed at the head of the animal kingdom, 
because, of all living beings, they most nearly resemble man, who is the 
highest of all creatures. The likeness is not so striking as would at 
first appear, if we will but look at the monkey carefully. We notice 
that their heads are large, and they have heavy jaws suitable for 
cracking nuts, if necessary. Their arms are long in comparison with 
their bodies, and their legs are short, strong and curved, while their 
feet are replaced by paws, the same kind as those of their arms. So 
unlike true feet are their hind paws, that they cannot be placed flat 
upon the ground when the animal is standing on his legs alone, but 
rest painfully upon their side, so that the body can be balanced only 
with very great difficulty. No monkey living is able to stand perfectly 
erect, but leans more or less forward when he walks. There is good 
reason for this, because he is not often required to walk on level 
ground, for his home is in the trees, and he spends almost the whole 
of his life among the branches, and for such an existence he is most 
wonderfully fitted. His long arms and immense strength allow him 
to perform wonderful things, and permit him to travel from tree to 
tree for hours together without feeling fatigued. Because of these four 
hands the monkey tribe is called by a Latin name the Quadrumana. 

Kinds of Monkeys. — The monkeys are divided into several 
varieties or kinds, of which the apes, including the gorilla, the chimpan- 
zee, the orang-outang, the sacred monkey, and the baboon are the 
best known. There are many interesting stories told of members of the 
monkey family. It is said that when Alexander the Great was on his 
tour of conquest, he marched through a country which was inhabited 
by the baboons, and encamped among them one night. On the follow- 
ing morning when he was about to proceed on his march, his troops 
saw the baboons drawn up like soldiers in line of battle, with so much 
regularity that Alexander's men at first thought it was the enemy 



2 44 THE MONKEY TRIBES 

drawn up to give them battle. Of course, they soon discovered that 
they were only monkeys, and then they laughed at their fright. 

Probably you have already noticed that what we commonly call 
a monkey has a long tail, which assists him in his movements in the 
trees, while many of the gorillas or apes have no tails. 

The Baboon. — Of all the wild creatures that dwell amidst the 
dense forests or rocky fastnesses of tropical lands, none are more 
interesting than the species of monkeys known as the baboons. 
Nothing escapes the scrutiny of these most imitative animals; and 
they follow faithfully, with a ludicrous gravity that is exceedingly 
comical to witness, the actions of anyone who has attracted their 
attention. Baboons live together in small colonies of one or more 
families, generally presided over by some hoary-headed, grave old 
patriarch, who preserves order in his little community by the most 
summary methods, restraining the juvenile members from any un- 
seemly tricks, and awing them into silence by the dignity of his 
presence, assisted in some degree by the infliction of sundry buffets 
and bites. They are bold and cunning, and frequently commit great 
ravages in the gardens and corn fields that may be in the vicinity of 
their accustomed abodes. The plundering parties are formed and led 
with great skill; sentinels keep watch to tell the busy thieves of the 
approach of unwelcome intruders, and the fields are stripped of their 
crops with great rapidity, and the booty carried away. Eatable 
articles are not the only things that they seize upon. An instance is 
recorded of a number of baboons having carried an infant off to some 
neighboring mountains. On being pursued, they were found seated 
gravely in a circle round the child, which was rescued without having 
sustained any injury. Doubtless they were having a serious consul- 
tation over the new acquisition to their numbers, and debating whether 
or not it would make a creditable addition to their family. The 
baboon is very bold, and fights desperately when attacked. The old 
males are very savage, and inflict terrible wounds with their long 
canine teeth, which project considerably beyond the jaws, and have 
the inner edges sharp as a knife. They strike these into any animal 
that provokes them, and grasping it with their arms, thrust it away 
from them, making a long deep gash. Some of the long-armed apes 



THE MONKEY TRIBES 



245 



have been known to kill frequently in this way other monkeys which 
had offended them and fallen into their power. But, like all wild 
creatures, these animals have also their own dreaded foes, against 
whose wiles and steady approach even their great cunning avails but 
little. The leopard is the one they hold most in fear, and he often 
succeeds in snatching an individual from the midst of its companions. 
Great is their consternation and indescribable the commotion occa- 
sioned among them at such an event. Rage and fear possess them at 




SACRED BABOON 
Once held sacred in Egypt 

the same moment, and to the desire for revenge, at the loss of one of 
their number, is added the reluctance to approach too near their sharp- 
clawed adversary, which exhibits the most supreme indifference to 
their movements. Having gained a comparatively safe place of 
retreat, they make all kinds of hideous grimaces at their feline admirer, 
the leopard, howling their anger, and making a liberal exhibition of 
their white teeth. At such times some important individual strides up 



246 THE MONKEY TRIBES 

and down before the rest, conspicuous for his exhibition of impotent 
rage, and occasionally seizes some of the smaller of his brethren, and, 
by a few savage bites that send them howling and disgusted away, 
shows what he would gladly do to his dangerous enemy below if he 
only dared. They generally, however, live rather peaceable lives, 
varied with a few predatory excursions into the inviting fields of the 
farmers, where, having eaten all they possibly can, they bear away as 
much more in their cheek-pouches and hands, to be attended to after- 
ward at their leisure. This occupation, together with the enforcement 
of the discipline necessary for the welfare of every well-ordered family, 
occupies the time of the adults. 

The Story of a Baboon. — A great traveler in South Africa 
tells an interesting story of a baboon named Kees which he had cap- 
tured and tamed. "He was an excellent sentinel, whether by day or 
night. By his cry, and the symptoms of fear which he exhibited, we 
were always apprised of the approach of an enemy, even though the 
dogs perceived nothing of it. The latter, at length, learned to rely 
upon him with such confidence that they slept on in perfect tranquillity. 
I often took Kees with me when I went hunting ; and when he saw me 
preparing for sport, he exhibited the most lively demonstrations of 
joy. On the way, he would climb into the trees to look for gum, of 
which he was very fond. Sometimes he discovered to me honey, 
deposited in the clefts of rocks or hollow trees. 

"Like all other animals, Kees was addicted to stealing. He 
understood admirably well how to loose the strings of a basket, in 
order to take victuals out of it, especially milk, of which he was very 
fond. My people chastised him for these thefts ; but that did not make 
him amend his conduct. I myself sometimes whipped him, but then he 
ran away, and did not return again to the tent until it grew dark. 
Once, as I was about to dine, and had put the beans, which I had 
boiled for myself, upon a plate, I heard the voice of a bird with which 
I was not acquainted. I left my dinner standing, seized my gun, and 
ran out of the tent. After the space of about a quarter of an hour I 
returned, with the bird in my hand, and to my astonishment, I found 
not a single bean upon the plate. Kees had stolen them all, and taken 
himself out of the way. 



THE MONKEY TRIBES 



247 



"When any eatables were pilfered at my quarters, the fault was 
always laid to Kees; and rarely was the accusation unfounded. For 
a time the eggs, which a hen laid me, were constantly stolen, and I 
wished to ascertain whether I had to blame this loss also to him. For 
this purpose I went one morning to watch him, and waited till the hen 
announced, by her cackling, that she had laid an egg. Kees was sitting 
upon my vehicle; but the moment he heard the hen's voice, he leaped 
down, and w T as running to fetch the egg. When he saw me, he suddenly 
stopped, and affected a careless posture, swaying himself backwards 
upon his hind legs, and assuming a very innocent look; in short, he 




XAtfH' K ' SASQ 



PIG-TAILED BABOOX OR CHACHMA 



employed all his art to deceive me with respect to his design. His 
hypocritical manoeuvres only confirmed my suspicions, and, in order, 
in my turn, to deceive him, I pretended not to attend to him, and turned 
my back to the bush where the hen was cackling, upon which he 
immediately sprang to the place. I ran after him, and came up to him, 
at the moment when he had broken the egg and was swallowing it. 
Having caught the thief in the act, I gave him a good beating upon 
the spot, but this severe chastisement did not prevent his soon stealing 
fresh-laid eggs again. As I was convinced that I should never be able 
to break Kees of his natural vices, and that, unless I chained him up 



24 8 THE MONKEY TRIBES 

every morning, I should never get an egg, I endeavored to accomplish 
my purpose in another manner ; I trained one of my dogs, as soon as 
the hen cackled, to run to the nest and bring me the egg without 
breaking it. In a few days the dog had learned his lesson; but Kees 
as soon as he heard the hen cackle, ran with him to the nest. A contest 
now took place between them, who should have the egg ; often the dog 
was foiled, although he was the stronger of the two. If he gained the 
victory he ran joyfully to me with the egg and put it into my hand. 
Kees, nevertheless, followed him, and did not cease to grumble and 
make threatening grimaces at him till he saw me take the egg, — as if 
he was comforted for the loss of his booty by his adversary's not 
retaining it for himself. If Kees had got hold of the egg, he endeav- 
ored to run with it to a tree, where, having devoured it, he threw down 
the shells upon his adversary, as if to make game of him. Kees was 
always the first awake in the morning, and, when it was the proper 
time, he awoke the dogs, who were accustomed to his voice, and, in 
general, obeyed without hesitation, the slightest motions by which he 
communicated his orders to them, immediately taking their posts about 
the tent and carriage, as he directed them." 

The Gorilla is an interesting member of the monkey family 
and is the largest of all the known apes, his appearance being repulsive 
in the extreme. The enormous head joined to the huge body by a thick, 
short neck, the immensely lengthened arms, and the feeble, crooked 
legs, together with a countenance in which the lowest animal passions 
are forcibly portrayed, unite in forming a creature of the most forbid- 
ding appearance. But little is known of the habits of this animal as 
yet ; and although many stories are told of its ferocity and untamable 
disposition, and although it is said that the natives of the Western 
Equatorial Africa, where the gorilla is found, are afraid to enter the 
woods where he roams at large, yet we cannot but believe he will prove 
as harmless in character as the other large apes are known to be. He 
feeds upon roots and different vegetables that he easily finds growing 
wild in his native woods ; and whenever molested, endeavors by all the 
means in his power to escape from his pursuers, only standing on the 
defensive when wounded, or when retreat has been made impossible. 
If angered, or in the act of protecting his young, the great strength 



THE MONKEY TRIBES 



249 



possessed by the gorilla would doubtless render him a formidable 
adversary. In stature the gorilla is considerably larger than his 
relative the chimpanzee, and, so far as can be judged from such slight 
knowledge as we have, he does not possess nearly as much intelligence 
as the latter has frequently shown. 




A GROUP OF MONKEYS 
"Brother and Sister" 



The Chimpanzee is very sociable and most affectionate in 
disposition, having a strong attachment for his keeper, and exhibiting 
every sign of uneasiness when separated from him. He is also 
exceedingly playful, and tries every variety of tricks with any other of 
his kind that may be confined in the same inclosure. Of course, there 
is sometimes a great difference between individuals ; some being cross 



2 5 o THE MONKEY TRIBES 

and surly, and showing a disinclination to be handled much, although 
so far as it has been observed this character appears to be exceptional. 
These large apes do not generally go in troops ; a few individuals only 
being found together. The old males are more savage than the females 
and resist all attempts to capture them by biting severely, and also by 
dealing heavy blows with their powerful arms. They move rapidly, 
though awkwardly, over the ground, going on fours and walking on 
the knuckles of their front hands, the hind ones being open and placed 
flat down like a foot. The females carry their young upon their backs 
or else clinging to their breast, their long fur enabling the little ones 
to hold on with a more tenacious grip, so as to make it almost impos- 
sible to tear them away even after the dam has been killed. 

But it is upon the trees that the apes appear to greatest advantage, 
their long powerful arms enabling them to reach considerable dis- 
tances, and they swing themselves from branch to branch with such 
strength and rapidity that it is impossible for a man to keep up with 
them in the forest. They pass the night in the trees; and several 
species are in the habit, after selecting a fork in the highest part near 
the trunk, of breaking off good-sized branches, and by laying them 
across each other in every direction, constructing a rude kind of nest 
in which they remain until dawn. Usually they fashion one of these 
every evening, not returning to any particular spot after roaming 
about all day, but pass the night wherever they happen to be. The 
large apes are only met with in those districts where the forests are of 
great extent; for being accustomed to pass over the trees when their 
tops interlace, by swinging themselves from branch to branch by 
means of their long arms, they cannot exist in open countries or where 
the trees stand widely apart. When passing along some long branch, 
these animals walk in a semi-erect attitude, steadying themselves at 
times by placing the knuckles of the hand of one of the long arms upon 
the bark. When the branches of an adjoining tree are reached they 
are seized with both hands, but before the animal is willing to trust 
himself to them he pulls with all his strength, and, satisfied that they 
will bear his weight, swings himself in an easy curve into the next 
tree, and in this way soon traverses a large extent of the forest. 

The grimaces of these animals, and their mode of showing satis- 



THE MONKEY TRIBES 



251 



faction or aversion, especially when young, are very ludicrous and 
amusing — being in many instances the counterparts of the actions of 
spoiled children. One that Wallace had when in Borneo was particu- 
larly diverting, for whenever it received a morsel peculiarly to its 
liking, it licked its lips, drew in its cheeks, and turned up its eyes with 
an expression of the most supreme satisfaction. On the other hand, if 
its food was not palatable, it would roll the morsel around with its 
tongue for a moment, and then push it out between the lips. Should 




the same food be continued, it immediately began to scream and kick, 
like a baby in a passion. On being brought to the house, it seemed to 
be always holding its hands in the air as if desirous of grasping some- 
thing, and was greatly pleased whenever it could get hold of Wallace's 
beard, to which it clung so firmly that he could not free himself without 
assistance. In order to satisfy it, he had an artificial mother made of 
a piece of buffalo skin rolled up in a bundle and hung about a foot 
from the floor. This appeared to suit it exactly, and it sprawled about, 



252 THE MONKEY TRIBES 

stretching its legs in every direction, always finding a tuft of hair to 
grasp. The resemblance to its mother must have been too striking, 
for, as it was quite a young animal, it soon began to try to suckle. 
The result was unfortunate, for only it got its mouth full of wool, 
upon which it became very much disgusted and screamed violently; 
and, having on one occasion been nearly choked, its owner was obliged 
to take the counterfeit parent away. Apes do not have many enemies 
besides man, particularly those species of such large size as the gorilla 
a.nd its allies. In Borneo, where one of the largest species dwells, the 
orang-outang, Wallace states that the natives declare it is never 
attacked by any animal in the forest, with perhaps two rare exceptions, 
these being the crocodile and the python. The way in which he 
meets the former is explained as follows: When the fruits fail in the 
forests, he goes to the river-side to seek for young shoots of which he 
is fond, or for any such fruits as grow near the water. There the 
crocodile attempts to seize him, but according to native testimony the 
orang-outang gets upon the reptile, beats with his hands, tears it, and 
pulling open its jaws, rips up its throat and soon kills it. Should a 
python or boa constrictor attack him, the Mias, as he is called in 
Borneo, seizes the serpent in his hands, bites it, and kills it without 
difficulty. Such are the powerful though usually peaceful animals to 
whose family the one depicted in the illustration belongs. 

The chimpanzee and the gorilla are often confused in the minds 
of some. Yet we must remember the gorilla is the largest of the apes. 
The difficulty in keeping these creatures alive when captured has been 
the chief reason why they have not, in common with other apes, been 
inmates of our menageries; for once deprived of the fruits to which 
they are accustomed in their native wilds, or exposed to the colder 
climates of northern lands, they soon droop and die. Should any 
one, therefore, be desirous of seeing this unamiable-looking creature 
enjoying his free life, he must go to the interior of Africa, in those 
regions where civilization is unknown, and where but few Europeans 
have ever penetrated. In the pathless tracts of those ancient woods, 
distant even from the primitive abodes of hardly less savage men, in 
company with the fierce inmates of the jungle, the gorilla dwells 
surrounded by his family. Peacefully they pass the day, seeking the 



THE MONKEY TRIBES 253 

various fruits that in many a brilliant cluster hang from the lofty 
trees, paying generally but little attention to what is passing below 
them. But if any unusual sound breaks the stillness of the woods, or 
a strange form be seen approaching their vicinity, then the female, 
bearing their young clinging fast to them, flee away into the still 
deeper recesses of the forest; while the father and protector of the 
small community, swinging rapidly from tree to tree, tearing loose 
the vines that stretch across his passing form, advances toward the 
object of their fears, and before imitating the rest in their speedy 
flight, satisfies himself in regard to its presence, and then with many a 
hideous grimace, and short hoarse call, demands to know in impatient 
tone, who comes here? 

A Monkey's Wit. — One of the drollest instances of the monkey's 
keenness of observation and power of mimicry that we have met with 
is the following : A retired admiral and his wife living at Cheltenham 
had a favorite monkey. One day the lady, hearing a strange noise in 
the dining-room, looked in to see what it was. The sight which met 
her eyes was a ludicrous one. Seated in the armchair, with the 
admiral's smoking-cap on his head, and the admiral's spectacles on his 
nose, was the monkey ; and in his hand was the open newspaper, which 
he shook and patted, whilst he jabbered and gesticulated with great 
emphasis at the cat which lay blinking on the hearth-rug. It was a 
clever and carefully-studied imitation of the testy old admiral's tone 
and manner when reading to his wife some passage from the news- 
paper which excited his wrath or indignation. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

Bats or Hand-Winged Animals 

The Bat.— As we have already learned, the monkeys have four 
hands, and for that reason they are given a particular name, 
Quadrumana. There are other interesting animals with 
mouse-like bodies and faces, which appear to have four hands, but two 
of them look like wings. These animals we call Cheiroptera, or animals 
with winged hands. They are commonly known at Bats. 

This is one of the creatures which prey upon flying insects, and 
must therefore be able to pursue and capture its victims as they wing 




THE BAT 
[ts fore paws or hands are developed into wings — Lives on insects — Pound in all parts of the world 

(2 54) 



BATS OK HAND-WINGED ANIMALS 255 

their way through the air. So we find that it also is furnished with 
organs of flight, and those of so useful a character that the animal is 
really able to fly as well as many birds. 

A peculiarity in the bat's structure is that the fore limbs take the 
form of wings, and are connected with the body by means of a delicate 
skin-like membrane. This membrane, indeed, is nothing more than 
the skin of the flanks, which is greatly widened, and is stretched 
between the bones of the hand, running along the body as far as the 
tail. Like the body itself, it has its upper and lower surfaces, which, 
with a little care, may be separated from one another, even though in 
some parts of the wing the membrane is so extremely thin that, with 
the aid of a good microscope, the blood may be clearly seen as it courses 
rapidly through the threadlike vessels which run to all parts of the 
organ. 

Now, this membrane, to be of service, must, of course, be 
stretched upon a framework, and this framework is supplied by the 
bones of the hand and arm. The entire wing, indeed, is very much 
like a boy's kite, if we imagine the shape to be a little altered, for 
the wooden cross pieces are represented by the bones of the arm and 
fingers, and the linen or paper which is stretchd across, by the skin- 
like membrane. 

If you were to take a dead bat and to carefully strip the skin 
from the wing you would find that the bones are most curiously altered 
in form, being not only extremely light and slender, but also of really 
wonderful length. The middle finger alone, for instance, is fully as 
long as the entire body. 

Nature has taken away the second bone of the lower arm of the 
bat, or, to speak more strictly, has left it in a small and imperfect form, 
so that the limb cannot revolve from side to side. The stroke of the 
wing, therefore, is firm and regular, and flight is rendered quite easy 
so that the bat can remain for hours in the air without feeling the 
least signs of fatigue. 

The fingers, again, which are not intended to be used for grasp- 
ing purposes, are perfectly rigid, and cannot be bent downwards 
toward the palm of the hand. Their only motion, indeed, is a side 
one, so that the wings, when not in use, can be closed just like a lady's 
fan, and folded neatly away by the sides of the body. 



25 6 BATS OR HAND-WINGED ANIMALS 

Upon examining the skeleton of the bat's wing, however, you 
would see that there is one portion of the hand which does not form 
part of the framework of the wing at all, and that is the thumb. 
Although the fingers are so wonderfully lengthened, the thumb is 
quite small and short, and is armed with a strong, sharp and curved 
claw of some little size. It is by means of this claw that the bat 
travels on level ground, for it cannot walk at all, but moves merely 
by making use of every little crevice by which it can hitch itself, so to 
speak, along. The reader may wonder why it is that a bat's wings 
are so large and wide. 

The fact is, that the broader the wings the more buoyant is the 
animal which bears them. If we look at any bird which is remark- 
able for its powers of flight, we shall always find that its wings are 
very large in proportion to the size of its body, while in those which 
do not fly for very great distances they are quite, small in comparison. 
And so it is with the bat, which, being obliged to pursue and capture 
swiftly-flying insects, must, of course, be able to skim through the air 
with even greater speed himself. 

Thus, you will see, nature has been most careful to suit the 
structure of the bat in every possible way to the life which she 
intended the animal to lead. She has given him wings which will 
bear him swiftly through the air, and has also lightened his frame 
to such a degree that he can continue his flight hour after hour 
without feeling in any way fatigued. But, more than this, she has 
also gifted him with a most wonderful power of avoiding the various 
objects against which he might injure himself when flying after dark. 

And this she has done in a very singular manner indeed, and 
which for many years was a great mystery to those who attempted to 
discover it. All sorts of experiments were made without success, some 
of them of a most cruel character, but it was not until quite of late 
years that the true key to the secret was detected. 

The fact is, that the entire surface of the bat's wing is covered 
with a vast number of the most delicate nerves, which can at once feel 
the presence of any object, even though they have not come into contact 
with it, and so warn the animal to change the direction of its flight. 
So perfectly do these nerves perform their office, that a bat may be 



BATS OR HAND-WINGED ANIMaLS 2 si 

turned into a perfectly dark room, across which a number of strings 
have been stretched, and will yet fly freely backwards and forwards 
without brushing against a single string, even with the very tips of 
its wings. 

Wonderfully adapted as the bat is to a life in the air, he is a ter- 
ribly awkward and clumsy animal when he attempts to crawl upon the 
ground. He is quite unable to walk in the ordinary manner, and can 
only crawl painfully along by hitching the long claws with which the 
thumbs are furnished into the various crevices in the soil, and so 
dragging himself forward by slow degrees. 

Strange to say, however, he can ascend a rough wall very easily, 
and does so in the following manner : 

Placing himself closely against the wall, with his head away from 
it, the animal rests upon the fore parts of his body, and raises his 
hind feet into the air. With the curved claws upon his toes, he then 
feels about for a little cranny, or a projecting piece of stone, to which 
it clings, while the rest of the body is lifted from the ground. One 
of the hinder feet is next raised again, and is quickly followed by the 
other, the animal thus ascending, not "hand over hand," but paw 
over paw, and keeping his head directed towards the ground during 
the entire process. 

Even when at rest the bat hangs suspended in this curious posi- 
tion, clinging with the hind feet to a beam or a similar object, and 
allowing himself to swing head downward. And the reason of this 
singular attitude is clearly that he may be able to take to flight at the 
least alarm. If he should be frightened in any way, all he has to do is 
to loosen the hold of the hind feet, when he at once falls into the air 
and makes use of his wings in his escape, which he could not do were 
he to rest in any other position. 

Even when taking to the air for his evening flight, a bat always 
prefers to allow himself to fall in this manner, and will never rise 
from a level surface unless he is actually obliged to do so. 

The Great Bats are found in eastern countries and live on fruit, 
and look so much like small foxes that they are sometimes called 
"flying foxes." They live in large numbers in the trees, hanging 
from the trees fast asleep in the day time, but at night they hunt for 
their food, often doing much damage to the orchards and farms. 



CHAPTER XXV 

African Gnawers 

RATS become numerous in certain localities and give much trou- 
ble. At times they become very bold and will invade the home 
of man. The following is an experience of a lady in Africa 
with the brown rat: "When living in Cape Coast Castle, I used to see 
the rats come in troops past my door, walking over my black boys as 
they lay there, and who only turned themselves over to present the other 
sides of their faces and bodies when the rats returned, and thought it a 
good joke. The fiercest encounter which I ever had with them was dur- 
ing one of those terrific storms which are more furious between the 
tropics than elsewhere. I was then, however, under the Equator, in a 
native hut, and heard an exceeding rustling and movement all around 
me. To my horror I perceived that these proceeded from a number of 
rats running up and down the sides of the room in which I was to pass 
the night, and who shortly began to run over me, they being disturbed 
by the torrents of rain which were then falling. The only weapon I 
could find was a shoe, and curling myself into a large armchair taken 
out of a French vessel, and covered with blue satin damask, I sat 
prepared for my enemies, whom I dreaded much more than the light- 
ning, which was flashing across the iron bars laid upon the floor. I 
felt that the silk of my place of refuge was some sort of protection 
against this ; but my own arm could alone save me from my four-footed 
foes. Presently my husband came in, and saluted me with a shout of 
laughter, which, however, abated when he saw my antagonists. The 
storm lulled for a while, and the rats retreated. We then crept within 
the curtains of bamboo cloth which encircled a rude imitation of a four- 
post bedstead, but I kept possession of my shoe. Weary with watching, 
I closed my eyes, but was awakened by a tremendous flash of lightning, 
immediately followed by awful thunder and a tumultuous rush of rats. 
Some of them scrambled up the outside of the curtains; but, arms in 

(258) 



AJ'KICAN GNAWERS 



2 59 



hand, I sat up, and directed by the noise, J hurled the invaders to the 
ground, till at length resistance and the passing away of the storm 
allowed me to sleep in peace." 

The Jerboa is a most lively little creature which lives in North- 
eastern Africa, on the plains where it is so dry that only a few grasses 
and shrubs will grow. They live in little societies, and dig their homes 
beneath the ground, where they have long halls branching in every 
direction. When going along quickly, the jerboa walks and runs by 
touching first one of its hind feet to the ground and then the other, 




JERBOAS OR JUMPING MICE 

but when in a hurry, it springs from both feet at the same time, 
covering such long distances at a bound, and touching the ground so 
quickly, that it seems much like a bird skimming along close to the 
ground. The jerboa is about six inches long, with tail about eight 
inches in length. It is of grayish color, with a white tufted tail. There 
is a species of jerboa in America, called jumping mouse. 

The Hamsters are very nearly related to the true mice and rats. 
They are stoutly built, rat-like animals, generally with short tails. The 
hamsters are confined to the Old World, and chieflv inhabit the tern- 



2 6o AFRICAN GNAWERS 

perate parts of Europe and Asia ; two or three species occur in Africa. 
They live generally in cornfields, where they dig deep burrows with 
numerous chambers, into which they can retreat to take their repose, 
and in which they pass the winter, previously, however, taking care to 
lay up a good store of provisions in some of the chambers of their 
domicile. 

They are rather pretty little beasts, about ten inches long, with 
bright, prominent, black eyes, short thin ears, and tapering hairy tail, 
about two inches and a half in length. The fur, which is thick and 
somewhat lustrous, is usually of a light yellowish-brown color above, 
with the snout, the neighborhood of the eyes, and a band on the neck 
reddish-brown, and a yellow spot on each cheek; the lower surface, 
the greater part of the legs, and a band on the forehead are black, 
and the feet white. Many varieties occur. The hamster is widely 
distributed, ranging from the Rhine through Europe and Siberia, to 
Obi; and in most localities where it occurs it appears in great num- 
bers, and causes great injury to the crops. Its burrows are exceed- 
ingly spacious, and consist of numerous passages and chambers. It is 
stubborn and easily angered, and at the same time very courageous, 
defending itself bravely against its enemies, and standing boldly on 
the defensive the moment any danger appears to threaten it. Its 
diet is by no means of a purely vegetable nature, for it will destroy 
and devour all sorts of small animals that come in its way. Besides 
the corn, which forms its chief winter provender, green herbage, peas 
and beans and roots and fruits of various kinds are welcome articles 
of diet, and in confinement it will eat almost anything. 

The' hamsters pass the winter in their burrows in a torpid or 
sleeping state, but waken up very early in the spring, generally in 
March, but frequently in February. At first they do not open the 
mouths of their burrows, but remain for a time subsisting on stores 
laid up during the preceding autumn. The old males make their 
appearance first, the females about a fortnight after them, the latter 
about the beginning of April. They then set about making their 
summer burrows which are not so deep or so complicated as the winter 
dwellings. 

The Porcupine. — There are many animals which have been 
provided by nature with some means of defence against their enemies, 



AFRICAN GNAWERS 261 

but few which are furnished with so singular a structure as the well- 
known porcupine, whose wonderful array of spear-like quills has earned 
for it world-wide renown. But for this prickly coat the porcupine 
would have no chance of beating off its foes, for it is neither a strong 
nor a swift animal, and so would be unable either to fight with or to 
escape from an antagonist larger than itself. 

There is one very great mistake, however, which people often 
make with regard to this curious spiny covering, and that is to sup- 
pose that the porcupine can use its quills in the manner of spears, 
and hurl them at any foe who is foolish enough to come within dis- 
tance. This power, however, the animal does not possess. All that 
it can do when attacked is to spread its quills and run backwards 
towards its foe, for it is quite unable even to loosen its spines in their 
sockets, much less to hurl them through the air and so strike its 
enemy at a distance. It is true enough that animals are sometimes 
found with one or more quills piercing their bodies, but these are such 
as have attacked a porcupine and have borne away with them 
evident signs of the encounter. For the quills of the porcupine are 
set quite loosely in the skin, and are furnished with saw-like edges, so 
that, when they enter the flesh of an animal, they not only remain in 
the wounds, but constantly penetrate deeper and deeper. Even so 
powerful an animal as the tiger has been found to have his head and 
paws filled with the spines of a porcupine, which he had attacked, but 
had failed to conquer. 

These terrible spines are nothing more nor less than hair. If 
one is split up very carefully, it is found that it is formed of a number 
of hair-like threads pressed very closely together, and these threads if 
placed under a microscope, would be found to possess just the same 
structure as real hair. The same is the case with the horn of the 
rhinoceros, which, very different though it appears^ is really formed of 
nothing more than hair. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

Toothless Ant-Eaters 

NOW let us look at a most curious group of animals, which are 
called Edentates, — -i. e., "toothless," — from the fact that they 
possess no front teeth. 
The Long-tailed Manis. — One of these mail-covered animals 
is the long-tailed manis, of Africa, which is covered with a number 
of sharply-pointed horny plates, which almost exactly resemble the 
scale armor of olden times. These plates overlap one another just 
like the slates upon the roof of a house, and lie with their points 



'. ■■.■-.., 




LONG-TAILED MANIS 



directed towards the tail, each projecting for some little distance 
over those beneath it. Unlike the scale armor, they can be used as 
weapons of offense as well as defense, for, if menaced by a powerful 
foe, the manis rolls himself into a ball, just like the hedgehog, so 
that the sharp and keen-edged plates project from the body, and 
severely wound any animal which is foolish enough to meddle with 
them. Indeed, when thus rolled up, the manis is safe from the attacks 

(262) 



TOOTHLESS ANT-EATERS 2<> 3 

of any foe excepting those of man himself, for the head, which is the 
only undefended part of the frame, is tucked away beneath the body, 
so that a fatal wound cannot be inflicted. 

Like the hedgehog, the manis curls himself up by means of the 
curious and powerful muscle which surrounds the body, and which, 
in the whale, is so useful in diminishing the bulk when the animal 
wishes to dive. 

The fore paws of the manis are armed with most wonderfully 
large and strong claws, or rather talons, and for a very good reason, 
for the animal feeds upon the curious insect which is called the white 
ant (or, more properly, the termite), and which is in the habit of 
making huge nests of clay something like those of the wood ant in 
shape. Now, the clay of which these nests are formed quickly 
becomes baked by the intense heat of the tropical sun, so that the 
walls are hard enough to resist the attacks of almost any foe. But 
they cannot bid defiance to those of the manis, whose powerful limbs 
and long, sharp claws quickly break their way into the interior of the 
nest, the inmates of which are eaten in thousands by the successful 
animal. 

The manner in which these termites are devoured is very curious. 
The manis has no teeth, and one might well think that it would find 
great difficulty in capturing enough of the active little insects for its 
needs, more especially as the paws are formed for the one great pur- 
pose of digging alone, and cannot be of the slightest use in capturing 
prey. The tongue, however, is far more useful than the paws could 
possibly be, for not only is it very long and slender, so that it can be 
passed into every little passage or aperture, but it is moistened with 
a very sticky spittle, or saliva, which causes the termites to adhere to 
it as soon as they are touched. When the animal is feeding, it sweeps 
the insects into its mouth by hundreds, the gummy tongue moving 
rapidly to and fro, and licking up the little creatures much as that of 
a cat or dog licks up water. 

Owing to the peculiar structure of the claws, this animal is not at 
all swift of foot, for its paws can with difficulty be used for the pur- 
pose of walking, so that its progress is very slow. We thus see how 
necessary it is that armor of some kind should be given to it, for it 



264 TOOTHLESS ANT-EATERS 

has neither the strength nor the weapons with which to fight its 
enemies, and is not sufficiently swift in its movements to escape from 
them by taking to flight. But, clothed in its horny coat, it is perfectly 
safe from the strongest foe, and there are, indeed, very few animals 
which would care to meddle with it as it lies curled up, with its sharp 
plates projecting from its body. 

The Cape Ant-Eater — the Aard-Vark.— It is very pig-like 
in the look of its skin, which is light colored and has a few hairs on 
it. Moreover, the snout is somewhat like that of a pig, but the 
mouth has a small opening only, and to make the difference between 
the animals more noticeable, out comes a worm-shaped long tongue 
covered with mucus or a sticky fluid. 

In Southern Africa, whence this animal came, it is rarely seen by 
ordinary observers, for it burrows into the earth with its claws and 
makes an underground place to live in, and is nocturnal in its habits, 
sleeping by day. Wherever ant hills are found, there is a good chance 
to find one of the aard-varks, or innagus, or ant-bears, as the 
Dutch and natives call them, leading a sort of mole-like life. But it 
is not easy to catch, if the stories told be true. It is stated that the 
long, strong, flattened claws and short limbs, worked by their strong 
muscles, enable the animal to burrow in the soft soil as quickly as 
the hunters can dig, and that in a few minutes it will get out of the 
way; moreover, its strength is sufficient to resist the efforts of two or 
three men to drag it out of the hole. But, when fairly caught, the 
ant-eater does not resist much ; it has no front teeth or eye-teeth to 
do any harm with, and it can be killed easily by a blow on the head. 
The ant-eater runs slowly, and never moves far from the entrance of 
its burrow, being seen to do so only at night-time. The burrows are 
often two feet in diameter and three or four feet deep before they 
branch off. Night is the time for ant-eating, for the active and 
industrious insects are then all at home and within their solid nests. 
Then the ant-eater sallies forth, finds a fresh nest, sprawls over it, 
and scratches a hole in its side, using his strong claws, and then intro- 
duces his long snout. Having satisfied himself that there is no danger 
at hand, the animal protrudes its long slimy tongue into the galleries 
and body of the nest, and it is at once covered with enraged ants, 



TOOTHLESS ANT-EATERS 265 

which stick to it, and are finally returned with it into the mouth. This 
goes on over and over again, until the appetite is satisfied; and appar- 
ently the diet is excellent, for the ant-eater is generally fat, and indeed 
his hams are appreciated as a delicacy for their peculiar flavor, into 
which that of formic acid obtained from the ant is said to enter. 

The Elephant Shrews. — The elephant shrews are found in 
Africa. The snout is prolonged into a kind of proboscis, which 
accounts for the popular name. The hind-legs are more developed 
than the fore-limbs, and they advance by a succession of leaps, just 
resembling the jerboas, and causing some writers to call them jumping 
shrews. The common elephant shrew, from South Africa, is about 
eight inches long, of which the tail takes up three inches. The color 
is tawny-brown, becoming whitish on the limbs. It is active by day, 
and lives in burrows, to which it retreats on being disturbed. There 
are several other species. 

The shrews constitute a numerous family of mouse-like or rat- 
like creatures, spread over the Old World and North America. The 
snout is long and pointed, the body mouse-like, and the tail thick and 
tapering, and more or less densely set with hairs. Many of them are 
furnished with glands which secrete a strong-smelling fluid. 

The Common Shrew is about two and three-quarter inches 
long, with a tail rather more than one and one-half inches. It feeds on 
insects, worms, small snails and slugs ; and it is preyed upon by barn 
owls and weasels. It is said a cat will kill but not eat them, owing 
to their strong-smelling glands. In the autumn great numbers of 
these little creatures are found dead, without apparent injury, on roads 
and footpaths in the country — probably starved. 

Some old superstitions still linger around the shrew, which is, or 
was till very recently, credited with causing cattle to fall lame if it 
ran over their backs, while its bite made them "swell at the heart and 
die." The only cure was to stroke the part affected or bitten with a 
twig from a shrew-ash — that is, an ash-tree, into which a hole had 
been bored with an auger, and a shrew plugged up alive in the hole. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

Crocodiles and Snakes 

NEXT succeeding in the order of nature come the Reptiles, a very 
large and important group of animals indeed, of which mem- 
bers are found in almost every part of the world. 
Now, it is a curious fact that, although we all know a reptile 
when we see it, and could in no case mistake it for a mammal or a 
bird, it is yet very difficult for us to write a description of these animals 



fifce* 




A FULL MEAL 
(266) 



CROCODILES AND SNAKES 



20- 



which shall apply to all alike. We have already seen what a wonder- 
ful difference there is between such mammals as the bat and the lion, 
the monkey and the whale, or the elephant and the mouse; but even 
between creatures so very unlike one another as these, there is still a 
great resemblance in many important ways. They all, for instance, 




BLACK CROCODILE 



possess four limbs, and their young, with one single exception, are all 
born alive, while they always breathe air itself, and never respire 
water by means of gills. 

But in the case of the Reptiles we find no such rules as these. 
Some have four legs, and others none. Some lay eggs, and some pro- 
duce living young. Some breathe air, and some breathe water, so that 
it is really almost impossible to draw up a description which shall be 



2 68 CROCODILES AND SNAKES 

equally true of every member of the group. But there are, neverthe- 
less, certain rules with regard to these animals to which there is no 
exception. They are all, for instance, what we call "cold-blooded;" 
that is, their blood is not so thoroughly mingled with air in its passage 
through the lungs as is that of the mammals and the birds. Much of it, 
indeed, passes through the body more than once without entering the 
lungs at all, the heart sending only a part to be purified, and allowing 
the remainder to circulate as before without being freshened by contact 
with the air. And as the heat of the body depends almost entirely upon 
the manner in which the blood is purified, the faster it travels through 
the body, and the more often it passes through the lungs, the greater 
becomes the bodily warmth. 

The heart and other blood vessels of the reptiles are formed in a 
different manner from our own, and the blood flows through them 
quite slowly, so that it never becomes very warm, and causes the body 
to feel quite cold to the touch. And, in consequence, nearly all reptiles 
are dull and sluggish in their movements, unless they are aroused by 
passion. 

No reptile of any kind is provided with either fur or feathers; 
and the reason of this is evident enough, for, as its blood is cold, 
there is no need for the body to be clothed in the warm garments 
which are so necessary to mammals and birds. Some protection, how- 
ever, the body must have, and so it is covered with either plates or 
scales, according to the character of the life which it is intended to lead. 

The now existing reptiles are divided into four orders. These are 
the crocodiles, the tortoises or turtles, the lizards and the snakes. To 
these we have here, for the sake of convenience, added the frogs, 
although these are now properly considered as a family by themselves, 
differing from the reptiles in several important ways. 

The crocodiles and alligators are the very lions and tigers 
of the reptile world. The animals pass much of their time in the 
water, and are never found very far from the rivers in which they 
dwell. Upon dry land they are slow, awkward, and even clumsy 
creatures, for their short limbs are scarcely strong enough to support 
their bodies, and they waddle along in consequence, very much as do 
the over-fed lap-dogs which we sometimes see in the streets. But in 



CROCODILES AND SNAKES 269 

the water they seem, almost like different creatures, so swiftly and 
easily do they pass along, and so active and even graceful are their 
movements. 

The crocodile swims, not like the otter, by means of its legs, 
but, like the whale, by the aid of its tail. The tail of the crocodile is 
very large and can be used with terrible effect as a weapon, when it is 
lashed fiercely from side to side by the angry animal. But this very 
same movement, which is useful in one way upon dry ground, is useful 
in another in the water, serving to drive the animal rapidly along. 

But speed is not enough. The crocodile is a beast of prey and 
feeds upon many creatures which are even faster and more active than 
itself. How is it to catch these? It cannot overtake them, and if it 
merely floats upon the surface of the water, they are far too wary to 
venture within its reach. How is it, then, to manage? 

This question we may answer easily enough, by merely looking 
at the structure of its nostrils. Instead of being placed in the usual 
position, they are situated upon a kind of prominence at the end of 
the snout, so that the animal can sink its body wholly beneath the 
water, and yet be able to breathe without difficulty. All that is then 
visible is the extreme tip of the nostrils, and even this projects so 
slightly above the surface that it cannot be seen without great diffi- 
culty. And so a dog or a bird might come to drink within a foot of 
its terrible enemy, and yet know nothing of its presence until safely 
enclosed in the murderous jaws. Then, again, supposing that the 
crocodile sees an animal some distance away, it can swim closely up 
to its unsuspecting victim without showing even its head above the 
water, and so, often succeeds by craft when open attack would fail. 

There is another way, also, in which its elevated nostrils are of 
service to the crocodile. When it has seized a large animal which 
might struggle for a long time and perhaps even break free if merely 
held in the mouth, the crocodile immediately sinks beneath the surface 
of the stream and holds its prey there until it is drowned. Meanwhile, 
however, the crocodile itself can breathe quite freely, as long as its 
nostrils are not under water, although its mouth be quite submerged. 

Fighting Crocodiles. — Among themselves the crocodiles are 
usually quite peaceful. But at the pairing season there are often 



27 o CROCODILES AND SNAKES 

violent battles between the males. The huge tails beat the water so 
violently at such times that it shoots up into the air like a fountain 
and all animals flee from the neighborhood. The female crocodile 
lays from forty to sixty eggs the size and shape of a goose tgg, covered 
with a rough chalky shell, and then covers them with sand. She then 
stays near them and watches them with great care. When the young- 
ones are ready to creep out of their shells, she breaks them open since 
the young crocodile cannot do this itself. Until very recently no one 
has been able to explain how the mother crocodile knew just the right 
moment in which to break open the shell. A naturalist has noticed 
that the young animals make a peculiar noise which serves as a signal 
to the watchful mother. The crocodile is of little use to the European. 
The natives, however, regard the crocodile meat, fat and eggs as a 
delicate food. The natives kill the crocodile with an iron-tipped spear. 
The modern fire-arm is much more effective, the bullets of which 
always pierce through their tough coats. 

Tortoises.— What the advantage of the strong coat is to the 
tortoise is not very difficult to see, for it acts, of course, as a protec- 
tion against the many creatures which would be only too glad to prey 
upon so dainty a morsel if they were able to do so. Many of the 
tortoises have no offensive weapons of any kind, and, but for their 
hard shells, would be quite at the mercy of their enemies, while even 
those which are gifted with sharply-edged and powerful jaws are not 
sufficiently active to make very much use of them, and a foe approach- 
ing them from the rear would easily be able to overcome them. But, 
secure in their armor-like garments, the tortoises can bid defiance to 
almost any foe excepting man himself, and so afford us another instance 
of the perfect manner in which nature has formed every part of the 
bodies of her servants. 

There are many kinds of tortoises found in different parts of the 
world, some of which live upon land and others in the water. Several 
of these are very curious. 

The land tortoises possess large and powerful claws, which, when 
urged by the mighty muscles of the limbs, will tear up the soil at a 
really wonderful pace. Those which live in the water, have their toes 
connected with one another by broad and strong webbing, so that here, 



CROCODILES AND SNAKES 271 

in the reptiles, we have another example of the webbed and paddle- 
like feet, which are met with so often in the mammals and the birds. 

Turtles. — None of the tortoises, however, are such strictly 
water-loving animals as the turtles, which very seldom come upon 
shore, excepting for the purpose of laying their eggs. Their limbs, 
therefore, are very large and broad, and, as you may see by the illustra- 
tions, form most excellent paddles, by which the body can be driven 
through the water. 

All the turtles, nevertheless, even though their limbs are so 
greatly altered in form, have the toes armed with strong claws, which 
tear up the ground if required just as do those of the tortoise. But 
for these claws turtles would altogether vanish from the earth in the 
course of a few years, for their eggs are very delicate in flavor, and are 
a favorite food of many animals. Nature, however, has given to the 
mother turtle an instinct which warns her of this danger to her family. 
and so she buries her eggs deeply beneath the sand, in order that the 
enemies may not be able to find them. 

But, in digging, the claws are not her only tools. They serve to 
loosen and tear up the sand, it is true, but they cannot, of course, lift 
it up out of the hole, and so would not be of very much use by them- 
selves. After loosening the sand the turtle passes her hind flippers 
beneath it, and then, resting upon the fore parts of her body, raises 
them with a sudden jerk. The consequence is that the loose sand is 
thrown out of the hole to a distance of several feet, and the process 
is repeated until she has dug to the depth of about eighteen inches. 
At the bottom are placed the eggs, arranged upon one another in 
regular rows, and lastly the loose sand is replaced with such care by 
the flippers, that the surface is again made so flat and smooth that 
no one who had not seen the turtle at work would know that she had 
been digging at all. 

Among the turtles we will mention only the green or edible turtle 
which is very good for food and for that reason is eagerly hunted. 
They are caught on the shore by being upset and turned over on their 
backs, and this is usually done with stout poles, as well as with the 
help of the shoulder, and several men may have to join in doing this 
to a large individual. The turtles are rarely able to turn back again, 



2?2 CROCODILES AND SNAKES 

and are secured by the legs in the meanwhile. Sometimes nets are 
used to catch the smaller ones, and harpooning is also resorted to. 
But the prime object is to capture the turtle alive for the markets of 
the great towns of the world. 

The Geckos are very numerous in warmer countries, and such 
is their familiarity with man that they do not hesitate to introduce 
themselves into his habitations, where they render an all-important 
service by devouring flies, spiders and other insects. They themselves 
are kept within limits by the birds of prey, such as the owl and the 
hawk, which feed upon them greedily. 

These lizards are enabled to glide along ceilings or steep walls, 
owing to the construction of the soles of their broad feet. All the 
toes are considerably broadened at the edges, and their under surface 
is divided into a number of scales or layers, from which exudes a 
sticky fluid. They are also provided with sharp, crooked, retractile 
claws, like those of a cat, and these assist them greatly in climbing 
trees. During the day the geckos generally lurk in some dark corner 
or crevice ; but at dusk they sally forth in search of prey, running along 
the steepest walls with wonderful swiftness, and venting a shrill, quick 
noise by smacking their tongue against the palate. 

The Snakes are a very large and important order of reptiles. 
They may be divided into two groups, the one consisting of those 
which are poisonous, and the other of those which are not. By far the 
greater number of snakes have no limbs at all, while those members 
are so small in the few which possess them that they are not of the 
least use in enabling their owner either to glide or to climb. And so 
snakes move principally by means of their scales, which overlap one 
another, and which can be raised at will so as to take a firm hold of 
the ground. 

The first necessity for a poisonous snake is the poison. This is 
always found in two glands in the head, corresponding to the saliva 
glands in higher animals. Fatal though it is in its effects when intro- 
duced into the blood of the victim, this poison is quite harmless if 
swallowed, and you might drink the poison of a viper without being 
injured by it at all. 

Many people think that the forked tongue of a snake is poisonous, 



CROCODILES AND SNAKES 



■73 



and so imagine, whenever they see a snake darting its tongue out of 
its mouth, that it must belong to one of the venomous kinds. This 
is a great mistake, however, for it is the fangs alone which' are to be 
dreaded, and even if a man could be bitten by the teeth of a poisonous 
snake, and not by the fangs, the injury would be no greater than that 
caused by the bite of a serpent of a similar size which was not venom- 
ous at all. 



hi 




THE COBRA 



The Cobra.— One of the most deadlv of all the poisonous snakes 
is the cobra di capello, or eye-glass snake, so called from the markings 
resembling spectacles on its neck. As is always the case with snakes 
of this class, its character may be at once known by the shape of the 
head, which is much widened owing to the presence of the poison 
glands upon either side. 

Non-poisonous snakes have to overcome their prey in a' very 
different manner. They cannot give their victim one quick bite, and 



274 CROCODILES AND SNAKES 

so cause its death in a few short minutes, but must either secure it by 
strength of jaw alone, or must overcome it by means of sheer bodily 
strength. Snakes feed upon animals of different kinds, whose bodies 
would seem far too large to be swallowed whole. But the jawbones 
are so loosely fastened together that they can be separated to some 
distance from one another, being then only held together by ligaments. 
The skin and flesh of the neck, too, can be greatly stretched, and so 
the snake manages to get the head of its victim fairly into its mouth. 
By slow degrees it is then worked down the throat by the alternate 
action of the upper and lower tooth-rows, the jaws separating more and 
more widely, and the skin of the neck stretching to such a degree that 
one would think that it must certainly burst. At length, after great 
exertions, the prey is swallowed, the jaws close, and the neck returns 
to its normal size. 

The Frogs.— There is a group of animals which previously was 
classed among reptiles, but which, owing to certain differences in 
their life and structure, are now more properly considered to belong 
to another class, altogether, under the name of Batrachians. Some of 
these are familiar to all of us, the toad and the frog, for instance, being 
very well-known members of the group. 

Now, there is one very important way in which these animals 
differ from all the reptiles. Crocodiles, turtles, lizards, and snakes are 
all of exactly the same form when just born as they are when fully 
mature, the chief difference between the parents and their young being 
in point of size. But this is not the case with the frogs, for, when they 
are first hatched from the tgg, they are not like their parents at all, 
and do not become so until they have lived for some little time in the 
world. There is, in fact, quite as much difference between the young 
and the mature frog as there is between a caterpillar and a perfect 
butterfly. 

During the first part of their lives they live in the water just as 
fishes do, breathing water instead of air, but in course of time the 
greater number change their habits altogether, and breathe air itself 
by means of lungs, just as do all the animals about which we have 
hitherto read. 

We all of us know the large jelly-like masses which are to be 



CROCODILES AND SNAKES 275 

found floating in ponds during the months of early spring. If we 
take one of these masses from the water, we find that it consists of 
a number of small round eggs, each with a black spot in the center, 
touch. These are the eggs of the frog, which shortly hatch, and pro- 
which are fastened to one another, and feel slimy and slippery to the 
duce the little creatures called tadpoles. 

No one who was not acquainted with them would ever suppose 
that these tadpoles bore any relationship to the frog at all, for they 
are as unlike their parents as they can possibly be, having no limbs at 
all, and being, in fact, very little more than round heads furnished with 
rather flat, wavy tails. By means of these tails they wriggle their 
way along through the water. As the tadpoles live entirely under 
water, and cannot breathe air, they are furnished with gills instead of 
lungs, which extract air from the water just as do those of a fish. 

Before very long, however, the gills begin to diminish in size, 
and finally they disappear altogether into the chest, where they are 
protected by what are called gill-covers. Meanwhile other alterations 
are taking place in the body, and two small organs break through the 
skin at the hind part of the body, near the tail. In a short time these 
organs develop into legs, which, however, are not as yet employed for 
any particular purpose. Shortly another pair of limbs appears in 
front of the first pair, and the tail falls off in pieces, gradually, one piece 
after another. Lastly the gills disappear altogether, after lungs have 
been developed, and the tadpole becomes a frog, breathing air now 
instead of water, and swimming by the aid of its legs instead of that 

of its tail. 

The life of the perfect frog, of course, is now quite different, 
and its mission is to keep down the numbers of the various insects, 
instead of to purify the waters of the pond. It must, however, be able 
to swim and dive in the water as well as to live upon dry land, and so 
must have a structure equally suited to either mode of life. 

For swimming in the water it is very well adapted, for its long- 
webbed feet make capital oars, and it can hold its breath for a very 
long time, so that it can remain below the surface, if need be, for pretty 
weR two hours without requiring a fresh supply of air But for a life 
upon land it is quite as well suited. It is able to travel with some little 



27 6 CROCODILES AND SNAKES 

speed by means of a series of leaps, very like those of the kangaroo 
upon a smaller scale. The tongue of the frog also is very curiously 
formed, in order to enable it to capture the insects upon which its 
owner feeds. 

When an insect is seen, the frog darts out its tongue, which it 
does with almost the rapidity of lightning, touches it with the tip, which 
is moistened by the very sticky saliva, and draws it back again as 
rapidly as it was thrust out. The fly, of course, adheres to the tip, 
and is carried at once into the throat, owing to the structure of the 
tongue, when it is swallowed without difficulty. The tongue of the 
toad is formed in just the same manner, and is used in exactly the 
same way. 

It is rather a curious fact that the frog always seems to calculate 
the exact distance to which the tongue must be thrust out, the tip reach- 
ing to just the required spot, and picking off the victim in the neatest 
possible manner. The whole action is so extremely rapid that the 
movement of the tongue can hardly be seen, and the fly appears to a 
spectator to vanish almost as if by magic. 

The Tree Frog. — There are some of the frogs which are great 
climbers as well as swimmers, and which are able to cling without dif- 
ficulty to the lower surfaces of leaves and branches. The feet of 
these frogs, which are known as tree frogs, are formed very much 
like those of the gecko, the toes being furnished with sucker-like pads, 
which adhere tightly to any surface against which they are pressed. 
One of the commonest of the tree frogs is of a bright green color, and 
so is almost invisible when sitting upon a leaf unless it is looked for 
very carefully indeed. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

Birds of Prey 

THE great woods and mountains of Europe, Asia and Africa are 
the home of the golden eagle. He is considered the noblest in 
all the family of birds, both on account of his size and of his 
proud upright bearing and the fiery light in his big, bright eyes. Even 
when at rest he appears the king of birds, but his superior powers are 
seen at their best when he is soaring in vast circles high up in the blue 
sky. He spends hours there, apparently in idle sport, and with no 
visible movement of his wings. The golden eagle is a handsome 
bird, large, strong and remarkably sharp-sighted, and surpassed by 
no other bird in his power of scenting out his prey. He can adjust 
his eyes to any distance, the muscles about them allowing him to move 
the lens forward and backward so that he can see with equal distinct- 
ness objects near at hand as well as those at an incredible distance. 
By this arrangement the "eagle eye" of this king of birds can spy out 
the tiniest prey when he is circling through the air or perched on the 
mountain tops. He shows his great strength in times of assault 
when he is seemingly not frightened by any resistance. Nothing 
from a fawn to a hare or a rabbit is secure from his claws. Bustard, 
swan, and wild goose fall as his prey as well as much smaller birds. 
At the very gate of the sheep fold he carries off goats and lambs, even 
the biting marten as well as the sly fox is caught. Dogs, cats, tiny 
rodents, rats and mice all fear him. Neither the fleetest among the 
quadrupeds nor the swiftest winged among the birds can escape him, if 
he has caught sight of them. The right of the strongest allows him 
often to snatch away the hawk's latest prey, or tear away a dove from 
the claws of a falcon. In March the golden eagle begins his courting. 
He builds his eyrie on some unapproachable rock or crag in the moun- 
tains or on the topmost branch of a tree. The foundation of the nest 
is of branches, the inner walls are of hair, heather and grass. The 

(277) 



278 



BIRDS OF PREY 



eggs are, like those of the buzzard, a whitish ground with brown 
specks or dots. The care of these eggs is left entirely to the mother 
bird. After five weeks the little ones are hatched, and are as homely 
as their parents are stately and beautiful. Very often only one egg is 
hatched, but the parent birds give as much love and care to this one 
little descendant as if it were a whole nest full. Sometimes the old 
birds will travel for hours through the air carrying some hare or 
heathcock or a young heron captured from a distant eyrie. The 
animal is torn to pieces before the ever-hungry young eaglet and the 







%3^<^' 



best bits offered him. His nursery on this account does not present a 
very inviting appearance. Legs of rabbits, skulls of birds, hair, 
feathers, bones and wool are strewn all about. Sometimes there is a 
very bright and pleasing side to this place of skulls; little birds, 
especially sparrows, build their nests between the twigs and branches 
of the eyrie and live there quite undisturbed. With this exception the 
eagle lives alone; one pair never permitting another pair of their 
kind within their hunting ground. The fact makes their indulgence 



BIRDS OF PREY 279 

to the little birds seem all the more wonderful. The sparrows seem 
to know that they are safe from the claws of the eagle, even though 
they are living in his eyrie, and they know equally well that while they 
are there, they are safe from pursuit by the swift sailing sparrow- 
hawk and falcon. Therefore they choose an eyrie for their nesting 
place. In one eyrie not less than fifty-two sparrow nests were found, 
which shows at the same time the friendliness of the eagle and the 
size of his fortress. 

The Kite is common in Africa, and it is, like the hawk, a bird 
of prey, resembling the latter in its forked tail and its manner of 
flying. It builds its nest on sticks in a large tree, and occasionally on 
rocks. It feeds on moles, frogs, rabbits, snakes, and fish. The length 
of the bird is about two feet. 

The Vulture. — Even those birds, it is found, which, like the 
vultures, feed upon putrid flesh, and seldom kill prey for themselves, 
find their food far more by sight than by sense of smell. In order to 
prove this fact a gentleman placed a large piece of carrion upon the 
ground, and covered it over with grass; the odor was most offensive, 
and yet not a vulture noticed it, although several were not very far 
away. He then removed a part of the grass, whereupon the birds 
caught sight of the carrion at once, and flocked to the spot as soon as 
he retired, thus showing that their sight, and not their scent, had 
warned them of the presence of their food. 

It seems almost certain, too, that these birds not only search 
for food themselves, but also watch one another meanwhile, so that if 
one more fortunate than his fellows should espy a dead animal, all 
those within sight of him notice him descend to the feast, and hurry 
to the spot in order to obtain a share in the banquet. These, in their 
turn, again, are being watched by others, which follow them; so a 
constant succession of vultures is attracted to the carcass, until it is 
completely devoured. In this manner during the Crimean War, when 
the battlefields were strewn with the bodies of men and horses, almost 
every vulture for hundreds of miles around was attracted so that the 
usual haunts of the birds were almost entirely deserted. This could 
hardly have happened had they depended upon their sense of scent 
and not upon their keenness of sight; and we can only account for it 



28o 



BIRDS OF PREY 



by supposing that each was watching the movements of its neighbors, 
and followed them, as, in their turn, they obtained knowledge of the 
banquet which awaited them. 

As these vultures feed so little upon living prey, their feet have 
not nearly so great a power of grasp as have those of other hawks, 
and are formed more for walking than for clutching a victim. 

These birds are nature's scavengers and disgusting as they are, 
nevertheless are more useful perhaps than any other variety. 





THE SACRED VULTURE 

I dare say you have noticed that the work of vultures, like that 
of hyenas, is to perform the duties of scavengers. Like the street 
cleaners in the cities, who take away the rubbish from our houses, they 
remove the rubbish or waste matter from the surface of the earth, and, 
by doing so, prevent it from daily becoming more and more putrid, 
and giving off odors which would carry disease and even death. 

Owls.— -The second great group of the birds of prey are the 
owls, which hunt principally by night. During the day-time they hide 



BIRDS OF PREY 2 §i 

themselves away in hollow trees or old ruins, into which the unwelcome 
light cannot penetrate ; and it is not until some little time after sunset 
that they make their appearance. Then through the hours of night 
they hunt for prey, and can see their victims as clearly in the darkness 
as hawks can in broad day-light. Now, it is evident enough that the 
eyes of the owls must he very differently formed from those of the 
hawks, for otherwise they would be of no use at all after nightfall. 
And, when we come to examine them, we find at once that such is the 
ca c e. Not only are their eyes very large themselves, but, as you must 
have noticed, they are surrounded by a kind of circular ring, sometimes 
composed of white feathers and sometimes of brown. 




THE SECRETARY BIRD 



If the thick plumage of the owl's head were all set in the usual 
manner, the feathers would project so far in front of the eyes that the 
bird would have scarcely any range of sight. But the curious feathery 
circle which surrounds the owl's eyes serves as a narrow slit in a deep 
window casing, and enables it to see in all directions ; so that, without 
moving its head, it is able to keep watch over a very large extent of 
country. 

In other parts of their structure the owls are not at all unlike th«? 



2 8 2 BIRDS OF PREY 

hawks, having the same powerful muscles and the same sharp and 
terrible talons. How useful these claws are you may judge from the 
fact that, even in so small a bird as the common barn owl, they can 
be used with such force and address as to keep at bay even a well- 
trained dog. At least one case has been known, indeed, in which a 
dog, coming up to look at an owl, was struck so sharply and quickly 
by the angry bird that both its eyes were blinded, one of the terrible 
talons having entered each and quite destroyed the sight. When fight- 
ing, the owl mostly rolls over upon its back, so that it may be able to 
use its claws with greater freedom. 

Several varieties of owls are found in Africa, but the classification 
is not complete. 

The Secretary Bird, from South Africa, has crane-like legs, 
about three feet long, and slate-gray plumage, marked* with black, 
derives its name from its erectile crest, which the early Dutch settlers 
compared to pens stuck behind the ear of a clerk. It is extremely ser- 
viceable in destroying snakes, which constitute its principal food. It 
is often tamed and kept in poultry yards, .but it has a bad habit of 
snapping up young chickens; and there is a story that the where- 
abouts of a missing kitten was discovered by hearing a faint mew as 
the pet secretary bird stalked to and fro, looking as innocent as if it 
knew nothing: at all about the matter. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

Poisonous Insects 

THE Insect World makes itself known very quickly upon the 
traveler's arrival in Africa, and from that moment until the 
last of the Dark Continent sinks below the horizon on the 
return journey he is never allowed to forget the insects and the perils 
they carry with them like loaded bombs. 

The Tsetse-fly. — Most prominent and deadly of all African 



i 




THE PREY OF THE TSETSE-FLY 
(283) 



284 POISONOUS INSECTS 

insects is the dread tsetse-fly. This insect resembles a large horsefly, 
and is death to horses and some other varieties of stock. In fact, it is 
impossible to use cattle, horses or dogs in the badly infested districts. 

But the ravages of the tsetse-fly do not stop here, bad as they are. 
It is known as the Glossina palpalis to the naturalist and as the bearer 
of the dread "sleeping disease." Carrying this deadly sickness from 
one person to another by means of its bite, it is responsible for the 
deaths of more than a hundred thousand natives in Uganda alone, and 
even Europeans cannot consider themselves immune. The disease is 
confined to the fly-infested belts, which extend over wide areas. In 
the interior of Usoga, on the banks of many rivers, in swamps on the 
shores of numerous lakes, great swarms of these emissaries of death 
are to be found. One person afflicted with the disease can in this way 
communicate it to countless thousands. Whole villages have been 
completely exterminated and the lake shores and river banks bid fair 
to be entirely depopulated. Great tracts in Usoga which had formerly 
been famed for their high state of cultivation relapsed into forests. 
The weakness of the victims and the terror of the survivors permitted 
a sudden and great increase in the number of leopards and added 
another scourge to the stricken people. By the end of 1905 more than 
tzvo hundred thousand persons out of a population in those regions, 
which could not have exceeded three hundred thousand, had perished. 

But hope is now being extended by the scientists that this 
death-dealing scourge may be exterminated. The disease may be 
curable or the isolation of patients may prevent its being carried to 
those in health. Whenever possible, the fly is being banished by cut- 
ting down trees and clearing away the brush. All the powers of the 
government are exerted toward putting an end to this horror and the 
reign of terror. Scientists bend over their microscopes, international 
boards of great physicians discuss the subject about long tables. Some 
day, somehow, the tsetse-fly and the sleeping sickness will be banished 
forever. 

The Mosquito. — With the approach of twilight comes the 
mosquito, strident-voiced and fever-bearing; and the most thorough 
precautions must be taken against him and other insect dangers. The 
traveler and sportsman lives in a large mosquito-house made entirely 



POISONOUS INSECTS 285 

of fine gauze. His bedding should be packed in tin boxes, unrolled 
during the day and carefully protected by mosquito nets well tucked 
in, against all forms of vermin. Mosquito boots or long, soft, leather 
leggings reaching to the hip, must be worn, and it is most unwise to sit 
in a cane-bottomed chair without first putting a newspaper or cushion 
in it. Also it is best to wear a cap, a scarf or veil and gloves and 
carry a swishing mosquito trap. It is only by adopting all these 
precautions that it is possible to feel secure. In addition one must 
never walk barefooted on the floor, no matter how clean it may seem, 
or a jigger, a worm pest, will enter the foot and fester there. Shoes 
must always be shaken out before putting on, no matter what the 
hurry, lest a scorpion, a small snake or a dreadful poisonous centipede 
might be lying in ambush. Clothes should never be allowed to lie 
around, but should be put in tin boxes proof against ants, or a horde 
of fierce-biting creatures will infest them. 

AntS. — Various kinds of ants are found in Africa, but there are 
very few which the unwary traveler does not regret not having given 
plenty of room. For instance, there are the soldier ants. In traveling 
through the jungle, perhaps the path is crossed four times in a hun- 
dred yards by fierce armies of these powerful and savage brown ants. 
They move in regular array with seemingly firmly fixed purposes, in a 
brown band about two inches wide and an inch and a half deep, drawn 
across your track with both ends lost in the jungle. It moves unceas- 
ingly and with a multiplied rapidity, for each ant runs swiftly forward, 
whether upon the ground or upon the backs of his ever-moving 
comrades. On either side of the main army about a yard away from 
the line of march are flanking columns which examine the ground on 
both sides and attack any enemy found, in ever-increasing numbers, 
sinking their strong jaws, or mandibles, into the flesh, never to let 
go even when the head is pulled from the shoulders. 

A ghastly and horrible method of executing criminals has been 
used by the natives. The unfortunate wretch was taken close to a hill 
of soldier ants and left with his feet and hands tied to pegs in the 
ground. The ants, needless to say, immediately attacked him, and -a 
day at most saw the end. 

There are many other species. 



286 POISONOUS INSECTS 

Among insects there are few, if any, whose habits are more inter- 
esting than those of ants. They live in large communities; build 
houses; they make roads; some of them keep other insects, just as we 
keep cows ; and some of them even have slaves. 

No two species of ants have the same habits; and on various 
accounts their mode of life is far from easy to unravel. Most of their 
time is passed underground; all the tending of the young, for instance, 
is carried on in the dark. 

The life of an ant falls into four well-marked periods — those of 
the egg, of the larva or grub, of the pupa or chrysalis and of the perfect 
insect or imago. The eggs are white or yellowish, and somewhat 
elongated. They are generally said to be hatched about fifteen days 
after being laid. 

The larvse or grubs of ants, like those of bees and wasps, are 
small, white, legless creatures, somewhat conical in form, narrowing 
towards the head. 

In the case of ants, as with other insects which pass through 
similar changes of form — such as bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, flies, 
beetles, etc. — the larval stage is the period of growth. During the 
chrysalis stage though immense changes take place, and the organs 
of the insect are more or less rapidly developed, no food is taken, and 
there is no addition to size or weight. 

The imago or perfect insect again takes food, but does not grow. 
The ant, like all the insects above named, is as large when it emerges 
from the pupa as it ever will be, though the abdomen of the female 
sometimes increases in size from the development of the eggs. 

Some ants have a sting; some bite with their jaws, and then 
squirt poison into the wound. Indeed, in some cases, the poison is 
sufficiently strong itself to cause a wound. Moreover, some species 
have the power of ejecting their poison to a considerable distance. 

Under ordinary circumstances an ants' nest, like a beehive, con- 
tains three kinds of individuals, workers or imperfect females (which 
constitute the great majority), males and perfect females. There are 
often, however, several queens in an ants' nest; while, as we all know, 
there is never more than one queen mother in a hive. The queens of 
ants are provided with wings, but after a single flight they tear them 



POISONOUS INSECTS 287 

off, and do not again quit the nest. In addition to the ordinary 
workers, there is in some species a second, or rather a third, form of 
female. In almost any ants' nest we may see that the workers differ 
more or less in size. 

The food of ants consists of insects, great numbers of which 
they destroy; of honey, honey-dew, and fruit — indeed, scarcely any 
animal or sweet substances comes amiss to them. Some species — such, 
for instance, as the small brown garden ant — ascend bushes in search 
of aphids, which are called the ants' cows. The ant then taps the 
aphis gently with her antennas, and the aphis emits a drop of sweet 
fluid which the ant drinks. Sometimes the ants even build covered 
ways up to and over the cows, which they protect from other insects. 

It is a curious fact that in some parts of the world ants are eaten 
and regarded as great delicacies. The Siamese particularly are noted 
as placing ants eaten with red pepper or curried on their menus. They 
also serve them rolled in green leaves with shreds of pork. 

Another curious fact is that formic acid was first made from ants. 
They were either placed on a cloth and. hot water poured over them, 
this water afterward containing the acid, or the ants were placed in a 
retort of glass with water and the retort heated. The vapor distilled 
over contained formic acid. 

Locusts. — While they do not attack mankind, yet the locusts are 
perhaps the most serious pest that the African farmer has to contend 
with. This insect, shaped much like the familiar grasshopper, often 
appears in great swarms, devouring every twig, green shoot, leaf and 
bud, in addition to whole fields of grain. They cover the ground so 
thickly that it is said that the footprints made by a horse among them 
are filled up in a few seconds. In 1798 South Africa for a space of 
two thousand square miles was completely covered with them. 

It is only fair to the locust to state, however, that the native 
reciprocates for the destruction of his crops by eating the locust in 
turn. Their method is to gather great quantities of live locusts, place 
them in ovens previously heated by a very hot fire, cover them up and 
leave them to bake. The next process is to spread them out in the 
sun to dry, taking care that the other locusts do not eat them. When 
thoroughly dried, the process taking two or three days, the locusts are 
ground up into a powder with which a sort of pudding is made. 



2 88 POISONOUS INSECTS 

Spiders. — It should be stated that spiders are not true insects, 
as very many people think they are. They really are an order by 
themselves, but we shall speak of them here. They have eight legs, 
for instance, whereas no insect possesses more than six legs. Then, 
their bodies are divided only into two parts, whereas those of the 
insects are divided into three. And, even more important, they are 
perfect when they emerge from the egg, instead of first passing through 
any distinct stages of growth or development. 

All the spiders are creatures of prey. Their legs are furnished 
with strong curved claws ; the jaws very much resemble the fangs of 
a venomous serpent. Each of these jaws is hollow, and communicates 
at the base with a gland, in which a very poisonous fluid is stored up. 
This poison ■ is so potent that even a large insect succumbs almost 
instantly to its effects. There have been many cases indeed, in which 
even our common spiders have bitten human beings, and injured them 
so severely as to cause great pain and swelling. 

All spiders, however, do not capture their prey in like manner, 
for some are very swift of foot, and overtake their victims by means 
of their own activity, while others spin the curious nets which we call 
webs, and lie in wait in readiness to pounce upon any insect which is 
unfortunate to fly into them. 

The Water Spider.— Many spiders, also, carry their eggs about 
with them in a silken bag; but there is one which forms a far more 
singular home for its young, and that is the well-known water spider, 
which is so common in weedy ponds of the country. 

The principal requirements of the water spider are rather singular. 
Although it breathes air, it is yet intended to live chiefly beneath the 
surface of the water; and there, also, its eggs are to be laid and its 
young ones brought up. It possesses means of breathing during its 
long dives, and also of enabling its young to do the same until they 
are old enough to leave the protecting nest. 

Scorpions. — Belonging to the same group as the spiders is the 
curious animal known as the scorpion, which is very common in the 
warmer countries of almost all parts of the world. Like the spider, the 
scorpion is venomous, but in quite a different manner, its poison- 
bearing weapon lying at the end of the tail, and not in the mouth. 



POISONOUS INSECTS 289 

It has a pair of pincer-like claws, four pairs of walking legs and lives 
under stones and in holes. 

The poison of the scorpion is far more powerful than that of the 
spiders, for even a strong man suffers most severely from its sting, 
while a wound from it has more than once been known to result in the 
death of the sufferer. But the oftener a man is stung by a scorpion 
the less pain he suffers, and in time he will not feel its effects at all. 

Besides the insects we have given here there are countless others, 
some poisonous, some not, very many totally unclassified and unknown 
to naturalists. However, we have given the most important, best 
known species which are likely to be met with in actual hunting in the 
Dark Continent and which are within the scope of this work. 



BOOK FOUR 



THRILLING ADVENTURES 

OF OTHER GREAT 

EXPLORERS 

Strange Peoples and Countries Discovered by Pioneers 
Who Preceded Roosevelt 



(agx) 



CHAPTER XXX 

Early Explorers of Africa 

A FRICA, as it appears to the traveler of to-day, is not the same 
/""% that centuries ago stood at the head of the world's civilization. 
When Greece was under the tumultuary sway of a number of 
petty chieftains, Homer already celebrates the hundred gates of 
Thebes, and the mighty hosts which in warlike array issued from them 
to battle. While other nations dwelt in ignorance, the valley of the 
Nile became the abode of learning ; and here might be found works of 
sculpture, painting, and architecture, which were without equals. And 
while Egypt was thus pre-eminent in knowledge and art, Carthage 
equally excelled in commerce, and in the wealth produced by it; and 
rose to a degree of power that enabled her to hold long suspended 
between herself and Rome the scales of universal empire. Amid the 
abundance of her wealth, and the splendor of her glory, Carthage sunk 
in her struggle with Rome; while Egypt, the land of the Pharaohs, 
whose grandeur and power had for ages won the admiration and 
provoked the envy of surrounding nations, passed under the rule of 
the Caesars. At a later period, when the din of war had ceased, and 
the tumult of contending armies had died away, the fires were again 
kindled, and northern Africa boasted of its sages, its saints, its heads 
and fathers of the church, and exhibited Alexandria and Carthage on 
a footing with the greatest cities which owned the imperial sway. 

But although the northern shores of Africa, and the valley of the 
Nile, were renowned for their progress in civilization, the glory of it 
did not extend beyond a narrow strip of land which bordered upon the 
Mediterranean, and skirted the shores of the Nile. Beyond this was 
the dark and bloody ground, inhabited by savage tribes, to whose 
inhuman appetites many an adventurer fell a victim. Those who 
sought to penetrate the wilds which lay beyond, were suddenly con- 
fronted by a desert, wide and bare — a barrier vast and appalling — 

(393) 



294 EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA 

endless plains of moving sand, waste and wild, without a shrub, a 
blade of grass, a single cheering or life-sustaining object. 

Such was the wide Sahara, earth's greatest desert, which pro- 
tected tropical Africa from the inhabitants of its northern belt. Not 
until the Saracens had conquered the Moorish realms was the Sahara 
practically invaded. The natives of the Arabian desert did not hesi- 
tate to venture upon its leagues of sand, upon the "ships of the desert" 
brought from the sands of Arabia. The interior was reached, and in 
the territory now known as the Soudan several kingdoms were 
founded. 

Among these were Ghana, now bearing the name of Kano, whose 
splendor is said to have been unrivalled, and whose ruler rode upon 
elephants and camelopards, which obeyed his commands as readily as 
the horse had been known to do; Timbuctoo, Kashna, Sakatoo and 
Tocrur, which our geographers call Sackatoo, Kuku, and Bornou. 
Lying still farther to the south was the city of Kangha, celebrated for 
its industries and arts, and which modern explorers have found to be 
none other than the city of Loggun, which Major Denham said was 
celebrated for its manufactures, its great ingenuities, and "its witty 
women." On the southern borders of Soudan lay Wangara and 
Ungara, where traders are said to have obtained large quantities of 
gold. But they went not beyond the point where the mountains 
separate Soudan from Guinea; of the country which lay beyond the 
mountains they were ignorant, and the land beyond the Niger was 
equally unknown and mysterious. 

About the end of the fifteenth century the maritime nations of 
Europe began that work of geographical discovery of which the most 
signal feat was the discovery of America by Columbus. Portugal 
devoted itself to African research and before the century ended had 
traversed most of its coast line, and made settlements at various places 
upon its shores. In pride at the work of his mariners, the King of 
Portugal assumed the title of "Lord of Guinea." Other nations made 
settlements along the coast, but the interior was not penetrated, and 
it remained for the daring explorers of the eighteenth and early nine- 
teenth centuries to begin the unfoldment of the secrets of the "dark 
continent," as it was called down to our own days. 

There were many of these daring explorers, but we must confine 



EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA 



'95 



ourselves here to the exploits and discoveries of the most famous of 
them. Chief among these were two sons of Scotland, James Bruce 
and Mungo Park. James Bruce, born in 1730, began his career as a 
traveler in Asia, and in 1768 entered upon his famous journey in 
search of the sources of the Nile. In February, 1770, he reached the 
capital of Abyssinia, where he gained the favor of the sovereign, and 
in November succeeded in discovering the great object of his journey, 
what he thought to be the source of the Nile. It was really the source 
of the Blue Nile, one of the branches of the parent of that stream. 

Mungo Park, born at Fowlshiels, near Selkirk, Scotland, on the 
10th of September, 1771, began his career as a discoverer in 1795, 
when he arrived at Jillifree, near the mouth of the Gambia. He 
explored a considerable portion of the course of the Niger, and 
reached London on Christmas morning, 1797. Great interest was 
excited by the narrative of his expedition, and the profits on its publica- 
tion, together with the liberal compensation made him by the African 
Association, placed him for a time in easy circumstances. Being 
offered the command of another expedition to the Niger and the cen- 
tral parts of Africa, he accepted it, and sailed from Portsmouth on 
the 30th of January, 1805. He was accompanied by his brother-in- 
law, Mr. Anderson, surgeon, Mr. George Scott, draughtsman, and 
others. The object of the expedition was to cross from the Gambia 
to the Niger, and then to sail down the latter stream to the ocean ; but 
it proved in every way unfortunate. Mr. Anderson and others fell 
victims to the climate. Park's last dispatches are dated from Sand- 
sanding, and he says, "I am sorry to say that of forty-four Europeans 
who left the Gambia in perfect health, five only are at present alive, 
viz., three soldiers (one deranged in his mind), Lieutenant Martyn, 
and myself. . . . We had no contest with the natives, nor was 
any of us killed by wild animals or any other accident." He left 
Sandsanding on the 19th of November, and, from information after- 
wards obtained, he seems to have proceeded down as far as Boussa, 
650 miles below Timbuctoo, where, having been attacked by the 
natives, he and his companions attempted to save themselves by swim- 
ming, but were drowned. In such explorations, the treatment which 
one receives is varied, but Park found the disposition of the women 
uniformly benevolent, and in proof he relates his own experience. 



296 EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA 

When he was prohibited by the King of Bambarra from crossing the 
Niger, and ordered to pass the night in a distant village, none of the 
inhabitants would receive him into their houses, and he was pre- 
paring to lodge in the branches of a tree. Exhausted with hunger 
and fatigue, and unprotected from a storm, he was relieved by a 
woman returning from the labors of the field. He was kindly invited 
to her hut, and was most carefully tended. The other women light- 
ened their labor by songs, one of which, at least, must have been 
extempore, for Park himself was the subject of it. It was sung by one 
of the young women, the others joining in the chorus. The air was 
sweet and plaintive ; and the words, literally translated, were : "The 
winds roared, and the rains fell. The poor white man, faint and 
weary, came and sat under our tree. He has no mother to bring him 
milk; no wife to grind his corn. Chorus. — Let us pity the white man; 
no mother has he, etc., etc/' 

John Louis Burckhardt, born in Switzerland in 1794, prepared 
himself for African travel by studying the language and manners of 
the Arabs, and in 1812 journeyed up the Nile almost to Dongola, and 
afterwards, taking the part of a poor Turkish trader of Syria, trav- 
ersed the deserts of Nubia as far as Suakim on the Red Sea. So thor- 
ough had been his studies, that when his Islamism was questioned he 
passed an examination in the Mohammedan faith before two learned 
jurists, who pronounced him to be a very faithful and very learned 
Musselman. Unfortunately, when he was about to set out to join a 
caravan for Fezzan with the purpose of exploring the source of the 
Niger, he died at Cairo, April 15, 18 17. He was the first modern 
traveler to penetrate to Shendy in the Soudan, the Meroe of ancient 
times, where he gained exact information about the slave trade in that 
quarter. The Mohammedans performed his obsequies with great 
splendor, as a distinguished follower of their faith. 

Among other notable travelers was Colonel Dixon Denham, born 
in London in 1786, who took part in 1823 with Captain Clapperton 
and Doctor Oudney in an expedition to Central Africa. He was a 
man well adapted in every way for such labors, and it was mainly due 
to him that permission was obtained from the Sultan of Fezzan for 
the expedition to cross the desert to Lake Tsad. He explored the 
region around this lake, and afterwards joined an Arab military expe- 




HENRY M. STANLEY 
The reporter sent out to find Livingstone became the greatest explorer of Africa 





« CO 

O ft 



S -5 



EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA 2;7 

dition against the natives of the interior. In the fight that followed 
he was wounded, and it was only after great peril and suffering that 
he rejoined his command at Kuka. He afterwards continued his 
explorations in the interior and returned to England in 1826. 

While Denham was engaged as above stated, Clapperton and 
Oudney set out on an expedition to Soccatoo, the capital of Houssa. 
Oudney died on the way and Clapperton found his journey's purpose 
prevented by the Arabs. In a subsequent journey, in which he was 
accompanied only by his faithful servant, Richard Lander, he reached 
Katunga, within thirty miles of the Niger, but was not permitted to 
visit that river. His explorations in other directions met with similar 
hindrance, and, depressed by his disappointment, he died of dysentery 
in 1827 at a village near Soccatoo. 

It is to Richard Lander, the servant of Captain Clapperton, whom 
he attended faithfully until his death, that we owe the important dis- 
covery of the source of the Niger. On his return to England after 
the death of his master, he suggested a plan for this exploration which 
was accepted by the government and he appointed to attempt it. 

In company with his youngest brother, John, he set out from 
Badagry in 1830, intending to reach Lake Tsad. They encountered 
many dangers, and were finally taken prisoners at Eboe; and only 
after the promise of a high ransom succeeded in getting arrangements 
made for conveying them to the sea. This they reached by the Niger ; 
and thus was solved one of the greatest problems in African 
geography. This important discovery, opening a water communica- 
tion into the interior of Africa, made a great impression upon the 
mercantile world; and soon after the brothers arrived in England an 
association was formed for the purpose of establishing a settlement 
upon the Upper Niger. But the expedition fitted out for this purpose 
unfortunately proved a failure; and the Landers, together with nearly 
all who joined it, fell victims either to the unhealthiness of the climate, 
or in combats with the natives. Richard died on February 2, 1834, 
at Fernando Po, from the wounds which he had received. The Brit- 
ish government granted a pension of £70 a year to his widow, and of 
£50 a year to his infant daughter. 

The last of the explorers of early date whom we need here men- 
tion was Alexander Gordon Laing, an army lieutenant, who was born 



29 8 EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA 

at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1794. Being sent in 1822 on an embassy 
to Gambia and the Mandingo country, to study the conditions existing 
in those regions, he gained a deep interest in Africa and its people. 
His mission being well performed, he was sent on another embassy 
with the purpose of procuring the liberation of a chief in friendly rela- 
tions with the British, who was held a prisoner by Yarradee, a warrior 
of the king of Soolima. On arriving at the camp of the Soolima army, 
he was informed that Sannassee Had been set at liberty, after his town 
had been burnt, and that his life had been spared only from the fear 
of offending the British governor. While upon this mission he had 
observed that many of the men who accompanied the Soolima army 
possessed considerable quantities of gold; and having learned that 
ivory abounded in Soolima, he suggested to the governor the advan- 
tages which would result to the colony from the opening up of inter- 
course with these people, intimating his opinion that the effort would 
not be attended with much hazard or expense, and that a great object 
would be attained in the knowledge of many countries to the eastward 
of the colony, of which, like that of the Soolimas, little was known 
besides the name. This suggestion was submitted to the council, who 
approved of the undertaking, and left it to Laing's own judgment to 
carry out his plan. 

His third mission, upon which he started from Sierra Leone on 
the 16th of April, 1822, led him to penetrate through a far more 
extensive tract of country than before, much of it previously unex- 
plored. During his absence he was promoted to the rank of captain. 
It was immediately after his return that he was ordered to join his 
regiment on the Gold Coast, where he was employed in the command 
of a considerable native force on the frontier of the Ashantee country, 
and was frequently engaged with detachments of the Ashantee army. 
In October, 1824, an opportunity presented itself, which he had long 
desired, of proceeding, under the auspices of government, on an expe- 
dition to discover the termination and course of the Niger. He was 
promoted to the rank of major, and left London on that enterprise 
early in February, 1825, intending to leave Tripoli for Timbuctoo in 
the course of the summer. He reached that city, but soon after, while 
engaged in a further exploration, he was treacherously murdered by 
an Arab sheikh. 



CHAPTER XXXI 



David Livingstone, the Beloved Missionary 

4 S with so many of that assemblage of uncrowned monarchs, who 
J~\^ stand head and shoulders above us by right of their achieve- 
ments or their character, and whose willing subjects are bound 
to them by ties of admiration and love rather than of loyalty or habit. 
David Livingstone sprang from an humble race, and personally knew in 
his youth what it was to go "forth to his work and to his labor until the 
evening," in order to earn his daily bread. Born on the 19th of March, 
181 3, at Blantyre, the hum of the busy cotton factory was the most 
familiar sound of his early years. 
His father, a small tea-dealer, his 
mother a hard-working housewife, 
and neither with any time to edu- 
cate their merry lad, it is not sur- 
prising that David should have 
reached the age of ten without 
giving any special sign of future 
greatness, or affording any reason 
to his parents for not gaining his 
living by his hands. And so the 
boy was put to work in this cotton 
factory as a "piecer," and began to 
contribute his share to the support 
of the family. 

A change in one's life not in- 
frequently brings new possibilities 
and other hopes before us. This daily life of manual labor would 
seem to have enlarged the horizon of David's outlook, for he has 
himself recorded that with a portion of his first week's wages he 
purchased a Latin grammar ! This he placed upon the loom ; and, as 

(2001 




DR. DAVID LIVINGSTONE 



3oo DAVID LIVINGSTONE, THE BELOVED MISSIONARY 

he passed to and fro at his work, he would catch, now a word, and now 
a sentence from its open page. With learning came the appetite for 
learning; and every evening, after the factory work was done, the lad 
would pore over his books till midnight, and even later. Here we see 
the strength and tenacity of the Scottish character, for he had to be 
at work in the factory by six o'clock next morning, and he did not 
leave it before eight o'clock at night. Fourteen hours of labor, with 
but two intervals for meals, might well have taken all the strength 
and sapped all the determination of a lad of ten; and it is, indeed, a 
pleasant reflection that the humane legislation of later years has ren- 
dered such a state of things impossible, or at any rate illegal. 

Livingstone was about nineteen years of age when he determined 
to prepare for the life of a medical missionary, and it is again charac- 
teristic of his nationality that he should have set about this task, 
infinitely more difficult then than now, without seeking aid or influ- 
ence from any person or society. He was by this time a "spinner," 
and the wages he earned in summer sufficed to support him in winter 
at the neighboring city of Glasgow, whither he went to get the benefit 
of the Greek divinity and medical lectures of its university. His first 
session was in the winter of 1836-37, and on its conclusion he returned 
to his labor at the Blantyre mill. 

During the two years at Glasgow, Livingstone largely developed 
the scientific side of his nature. His very liberality in theology was 
owing to his perfectly impartial method of testing every question. 
Had he been more of a theologian, it is quite conceivable he might have 
lost much of that primitive Christian spirit which marked his whole 
life, and without doubt contributed largely to his success in dealing 
with the raw African. He has told us himself that, when he was 
advised to join the London Missionary Society, he was attracted by 
its "perfectly unsectarian character." "It sends," he wrote, "neither 
episcopacy, nor presbyterianism, nor independency, but the Gospel of 
Christ, to the heathen. This," he adds, "exactly agreed with my ideas 
of what a missionary society ought to do." 

During his second season at Glasgow, Livingstone forwarded an 
application to this Society, and, his offer being provisionally accepted, 
he went to London in 1838 to further his interests. He was sent by the 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE, THE BELOVED MISSIONARY 301 

heads of the Society to the Rev. Richard Cecil, who examined him in 
common with several other candidates, and gave an unfavorable report, 
especially in regard to the young applicant's powers as a preacher. It 
was, in consequence, by the merest chance that he was accepted. Some 
one pleaded in his favor ; he was given another opportunity, and finally 
his services were engaged. It had been the young applicant's desire to 
make China his field of labor, and he had studied medicine with that 
end in view. But the opium war which had broken out with that 
country closed it for the time to the Europeans, and a meeting with 
Robert Moffat, who had lately returned to England from his mission 
in South Africa, led Livingstone to determine on that almost unknown 
region as the scene of his future labors. Dr. Moffat has left an account 
of this meeting, which has a special interest in the light of the lifelong 
connection which was to unite the two men, and a portion of it may be 
quoted here. 

"He asked me whether I thought he would do for Africa. I said 
I believed he would, if he would not go to an old station, but would 
advance to unoccupied ground, specifying the vast plain to the north, 
where I had sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thou- 
sand villages, where no missionary had ever been. At last Livingstone 
said: 'What is the use of my waiting for the end of this abominable 
opium war? I will go at once to Africa!' The Directors concurred, 
and Africa became his sphere." 

Livingstone had been studying both theology and medicine in 
London for some time, and toward the end of 1840 he returned to 
Glasgow, and obtained that medical diploma to which reference has 
already been made. He was now therefore equipped for the fight, and 
with the ardor of his nature was willing and anxious for service. He 
had not long to wait. Within a few days he received the summons, 
and on the 17th of November bade farewell to his relatives and friends, 
and returned to London. His father, for whom he had both affection 
and respect, he was never to see again. Sixteen years later, when 
Livingstone was winning glory in the heart of Africa, the old man 
died, but not before he had heard with pride and thankfulness of his 
son's achievements. In simple language the son has written a beau- 
tiful elegy upon him, closing with these pregnant words: "I revere 
his memory." 



3 o2 DAVID LIVINGSTONE, THE BELOVED MISSIONARY 

On the 20th of November, in Albion Street Chapel, London, Liv- 
ingstone received his formal commission to preach the Word. Less 
than a month afterwards, he was sailing southward on the Atlantic, 
bound for the Cape of Good Hope. 

At this time Kuruman, about 700 miles northeast of Capetown, 
was the most northerly missionary station in South Africa. Kuru- 
man, in fact, was the only place for a hundred miles round where 
Europeans could settle and exist. And even at Kuruman the excessive 
droughts which are the curse of the greater part of South Africa were 
not unknown. Bechuanaland was essentially a dry country — so dry, 
indeed, that Livingstone has told us that needles could be left for 
months exposed to the outer air without rusting. To grow crops with 
success irrigation was necessary, and Moffat had won the confidence 
of the natives by his active exertions to procure by this means security 
for the harvest. 

When Livingstone arrived at Kuruman, he found affairs in a 
prosperous condition. From a few Hottentot servants the Christian 
congregation had increased to about a thousand, the mission-house 
and church had been rebuilt on a larger scale and of stone, the schools 
had become flourishing institutions, and the advance of civilization 
was marked by those of the natives who could afford it purchasing 
wagons and using oxen for labor in the place of women. "The gar- 
dens," wrote Livingstone, "irrigated by the Kuruman rivulet, are well 
stocked with fruit trees and vines, and yield European vegetables and 
grain readily. The pleasantness of the place is enhanced by the con- 
trast it presents to the surrounding scenery, and the fact that it owes 
all its beauty to the manual labor of the missionaries. Externally it 
presents a picture of civilized comfort to the adjacent tribes ; and by 
its printing-press . . . the light of Christianity is gradually dif- 
fused in the surrounding region." 

While awaiting the permission of the Society to erect a mission- 
station north of Kuruman, Livingstone was journeying up and down 
the whole Bechuana country. He visited the Bakwains — whose chief, 
Sechele, became a great friend — the Bamangwato, the Bakaa, and the 
Bakhatla in succession, studying their language and customs, and in 
every way equipping himself for useful effort among them, In the 



DAVW LIVINGSTONE, THE BELOVED MISSIONARY 303 

meanwhile he was taking careful notes of the adaptability of the 
country to agriculture, inquiring into the causes of its intense dryness, 
and making up his mind even at this early date as to the right method 
of evangelizing Africa. 

It was not until late in the year 1843 that Livingstone was able 
to move northward, and establish his first station in Africa in a pleas- 
ant valley leading from a mountain range, which the Bakhatla called 
Mabotsa. By this name also the station came to be known. 

Shortly after his arrival, he met with that encounter with a lion 
which is perhaps one of the most familiar events of his life. Struck 
to the ground by the beast in his spring, his flesh torn and the upper 
bone of his arm crunched in the lion's mouth, Livingstone was only 
saved from death by the courageous conduct of a faithful servant, who 
was also a native deacon. In his attempt to rescue his master, 
Mebalwe nearly lost his own life ; for the lion quitted his hold of Liv- 
ingstone's arm, dashed blindly at Mebalwe, biting him on the thigh, 
and then, while in the act of attacking another native, fell dead from 
the bullets he had received. Livingstone's comment on this is charac- 
teristic: "But for the importunities of friends, I meant to have kept 
(this story) in store to tell my children when in my dotage." 

As soon as his arm was healed, he set about building the mission- 
house and school-house, and in converting the ground adjacent into 
a garden. Before long he found cause for enlarging his house, for in 
one of his visits to Kuruman he capped a fond attachment to Mary, 
the eldest child of the Moffats, by proposing marriage and being 
accepted. Mary Moffat soon afterwards became Mary Livingstone, 
and the two settled down to a busy life among the Bakhatla. 

The life before the Doctor appeared to him to be projected on 
similar lines to that which the veteran Moffat had been leading for sq 
many years, though somewhat extended in usefulness and influence, 
perhaps, by his greater medical skill. He was, moreover, determined 
to put into practice his cherished theory of training natives for the 
ministry, for on this point he was always very decided ; and it is not 
surprising, considering the havoc fever had played with the Euro- 
peans, and the difficulty of procuring them in sufficient numbers to 
grapple with the vast population of the interior. But neither this nor 



3 o4 DAVID LIVINGSTONE, THE BELOVED MISSIONARY 

the settled life of Moffat was to fall to his lot. He was reserved for 
a greater and more difficult work. 

Passing over some of the events of his life in Africa, we will only 
say here that after three years' probation and instruction his friend, 
the chief Sechele, received baptism. But his people held back, for a 
severe drought had visited the country, which the tribal "rain makers" 
said was due to the fact that the white man had bewitched the rain, 
so that it would not yield to their incantations. 

Livingstone decided that the only chance for success in his labors 
and prosperity for the tribe amongst whom he had cast his lot was to 
move to a more favored region ; and Sechele and his people being noth- 
ing loath, the whole community moved westward to the river Kolobeng, 
about forty miles distant. Under Livingstone's direction canals and 
trenches were cut in connection with the river, and a complete system 
of irrigation introduced. Sechele built the school-house at his own 
expense, and Livingstone once more had to make a home. 

"Our house," he says, "at the river Kolobeng, which gave a name 
to the settlement, was the third which I had reared with my own hands. 
A native smith taught me to weld iron; and, having improved by 
scraps of information in that line from Mr. Moffat, and also in car- 
pentering and gardening, I was becoming handy at almost any trade, 
besides doctoring and preaching; and, as my wife could make candles, 
soap and clothes, we came nearly up to what may be considered as 
indispensable in the accomplishments of a missionary family in Cen- 
tral Africa, namely, the husband to be a jack-of -all-trades without 
doors, and the wife a maid-of-all-work within." 

It is pleasing to look at Livingstone in his daily life and labor. 
He has left us a vivid picture, too full of detail for insertion here. . 
Everything he required he had to make from the raw material ; there 
were no manufacturers or "middlemen" at Kolobeng. "You want 
bricks to build a house," he tells us, "and must forthwith proceed to the 
field, cut down a tree, and saw it into planks to make the brick moulds ; 
the materials for doors and windows, too, are standing in the forest; 
and, if you want to be respected by the natives, a house of decent 
dimensions, costing an immense amount of human labor, must be 
built." Lie tells us further on that every brick and stick of the three 
large houses he had built had to be put square by his own hand. 



DAVID LIVINGSTONE, THE BELOVED MISSIONARY 305 

The bread was almost always baked in an oven which was a hole 
in the ground; butter was churned in a jar; candles made in wooden 
moulds; and soap procured from the ashes of a plant. Livingstone 
does not forget to pay a tribute to his wife — a valuable helpmeet. He 
wrote in his first published book: "Married life is all the sweeter 
when so many comforts emanate directly from the thrifty, striving 
housewife's hands." 

The first season had passed away successfully at Kolobeng, owing 
to the irrigation works, but the drought proved too much for their 
slender source in the second year, and the river Kolobeng shrank to a 
mere rivulet. During the whole of the second and third years but ten 
inches of rain fell, and the fourth year was but little better. The river 
entirely disappeared, and its bed had to be literally mined in order to 
procure moisture for the more precious fruit-trees. Pasturage for 
cattle failed, and the cows gave no milk; the tribe was in a bad way, 
and became restless again. The restlessness seemed infectious; for 
Livingstone, whose eyes looked ever northward, and who longed for 
power to disseminate native deacons and schoolmasters among the 
people of the interior, made up his mind that Kolobeng, too, must be 
left behind, and that pastures new and more desirable must be sought. 
If the natives could not live at Kolobeng, it was very evident that 
Europeans could not either, and the sooner a new station was selected 
the better for the tribe among which he was living, and the better also 
for the prosperity of his Gospel preaching. 

In all his plans not one thought occurred of retreating, as he 
easily might have done, to the colony, and living in comparative ease 
and perfect security. No; his eyes were looking fearlessly northward 
and his whole soul breathed the one word "Onward !" 



CHAPTER XXXII 

Livingstone's Missionary Travels 

LITTLE did Livingstone think that when he left Kolobeng to 
seek a more suitable settlement for himself and his friends the 
Bakwains, he was really entering on a career of travel and 
exploration which was to place his name on the highest pinnacle of 
fame and only end with his death. 

Yet such was the case, and therefore it cannot but be appropriate 
to consider here, as briefly as possible, the twofold position of Living- 
stone as a missionary and an explorer. 

It is evident enough that, when he left his wife and three children 
at Kolobeng, his sole purpose was to seek the country of Sebituane, 
and ascertain if the regions of the "great lake" of which he had so 
often heard were healthful and suitable to missionary enterprise. In 
his efforts to preach the Gospel to the various tribes he encountered 
he found it after a while impossible to take his family with him, and 
reluctantly he consented to their departure to England. At once set 
free from all family responsibility, he entered into those wider labors 
which ultimately led him across the continent of Africa. This was no 
mere effort of geographical enterprise, but undertaken in a purely 
humanitarian spirit. He had by that time discovered the growing 
enormity of the slave trade, which prospered wherever the Arabs, 
coast tribes, and Portuguese had access ; and to stamp this out became 
one of the ruling passions of his life. With a statesmanlike apprecia- 
tion of the case, he saw that if he could foster legitimate trade that in 
human flesh would probably subside. If the tribes of the interior had 
nothing to exchange for those cottons and guns, bright tinsel orna- 
ments, beads and wire, which were displayed so temptingly before 
their eyes, and which they naturally coveted, but the men, women, and 
children they had captured in their tribal wars, or, failing these, even 
their own kith and kin, then, as Livingstone saw plainly, their uncon- 

(306) 



LIVINGSTONE'S MISSIONARY TRAVELS 



3°7 



trolled greed would lead them to trade in slaves. In his anxiety to 
suppress this growing traffic, he sought an outlet for such raw material 
as the natives could be induced to gather. His search for some great 
natural highway to the ocean led him, after years of strenuous en- 
deavor, first to Loanda on the west coast, and then from there to 
Quilimane on the shores of the Indian Ocean and won him world-wide 
fame as a traveler. 

Yet all the while he hungered for the soul of the African. He 
became convinced — and to be convinced with Livingstone was to be 
enthusiastic as well — that the evangelizing of Africa was not to be 
achieved in its earliest stage by building stations and' settling perma- 
nently among one people ; but rather by staying a few years with each 
tribe, preaching the Gospel, specially instructing such as would receive 
it, and then moving on to new tribes. 

And so it happened that, whenever and wherever he traveled, 
he sowed the seed as he went. Far and wide he flung it ; and far and 
wide, even to this day, his name is remembered with respect. The 
principle which actuated him through it all is contained in those well- 
known words of his, "The end of the geographical feat is only the 
beginning of the missionary enterprise." 

On the 1st of June, 1849, m company with two Englishmen bent 
on sporting adventure — Mr. Oswell and Mr. Murray — Livingstone 
set out on his northward march. Right in his track lay the great 
Kalahari desert. From the Orange River in the south to Lake Ngami 
in the north, from the Transvaal on the east to Great Namaqualand 
on the west, this vast tract of country extends — in its southern portions 
open and grassy, and in its northern wooded as well. It is flat and 
sandy, and in many parts grass grows luxuriantly, and bushes and 
trees are not uncommon. Here and there are distinctly traceable the 
beds of ancient rivers, but no water ever flows along them now. It 
is a region of few wells and no streams, a country of complete drought; 
and to the natives and Boers who dwelt east of it, the Kalahari Desert 
conveys the idea of utter desolation. 

And yet this idea is in many respects erroneous. Large numbers 
of Bushmen lead a nomadic life upon this sandy plain. From place to 
place they follow the antelope — a beast which resembles the camel in 



3 o8 LIVINGSTONE'S MISSIONARY TRAVELS 

his ability to dispense with water — as he roams, one of enormous herds, 
across the "desert." The natives eat of the scarlet cucumbers and the 
succulent watermelons which in many districts carpet the ground ; and 
they drink of the water-bearing tubers which, found a foot or so below 
the surface of the soil, produce a liquor of surprising coolness. In 
short, despite the monotony of the vegetation and the absolute want 
of surface water, the Kalahari Desert supports a large population, 
numerous animals, fruits of several kinds in great quantity, and in 
many parts an abundance of grass. Hostile in aspect, it has a not 
unkindly heart: yet its character is such that the stranger may die 
where the native would find enough and to spare. 

After traveling for about a month, suffering at times a good deal 
from thirst, and being deceived at others by the glittering salt-pans 
which appeared through mirage to be lakes or rivers, Livingstone and 
his party reached the Zouga River. From this point to the Ngami 
Lake the route was comparatively easy; the river ran a southeasterly 
course from the lake, and they had but to follow the river. 

It was while ascending the Zouga thaC Livingstone first discov- 
ered the nature of the region which is generally called South Central 
Africa. That vast plateau of sand, which "arm-chair geographers" 
had decided was the true character of this region, disappeared for- 
ever when Livingstone inquired into the source of the Tamanakle, an 
affluent of the Zouga, and asked from what sort of land it came. The 
answer that was given him was this: "From a country full of rivers 
— so many no one can tell their number — and full of large trees!" 
That answer opened up such a vista before him that Livingstone 
declared, on at last sighting the much-talked-of lake, that its discovery 
seemed of little importance. He was already, in spirit, traveling upon 
the waterways and reposing under the umbrageous forest trees of the 
Zambesi basin. 

On the i st of August tke lake was sighted at its northeast end. 
It has proved to have, usually, an area of three hundred square miles ; 
but, like some other African lakes, it largely expands and contracts 
in accordance with the wet or the dry season. When the lake is full, 
the water is fresh; when low, it is brackish. To-day it may be deep 
in almost every part; three months hence a canoe might be punted 
over its bosom for miles at a time. 



LIVINGSTONE'S MISSIONARY TRAVELS 30$ 

Livingstone's chief object in coming north was to visit Sebituane, 
the powerful chief of a great people — the Makololo. This individual 
had been very kind in former years to Sechele, Livingstone's old ally. 
and it was with the idea of migrating to the country of the Makololo 
that the missionary had left Kolobeng for the court of Sebituane. 
He was, however, prevented from advancing beyond Ngami by the 
jealousy of Lechulatebe, the most important chief on the shores of 
the lake. He refused to transport the party across the Zouga, and 
the determination of Livingstone nearly cost him his life. "Trying 
hard," he wrote in his journal, "to form a raft at a narrow part, I 
worked many hours in the water ; but the dry wood was so worm-eaten 
it would not bear the weight of a single person. I was not then aware 
of the number of alligators which exist in the Zouga, and never think 
of my labor in the water without feeling thankful that I escaped their 
jaws." 

Finding farther advance impossible, Livingstone returned to 
Kolobeng, taking careful notes of the animal and vegetable life as he 
went. In the following year ( 1850) he made a second attempt to reach 
the Makololo country, but without success. He set out a third time in 
April, 1 85 1, and this time succeeded. The route lay across the worst 
part of the Kalahari Desert, and more than once death from thirst 
appeared imminent. When water became more frequent, another 
danger appeared. The children were so savagely attacked by mos- 
quitoes, that for a long time they were in a highly feverish state. 
When they seemed improving, a new cause for alarm arose in the 
appearance of the tsetse-fly, which threatened to destroy the cattle, 
their sole means of transport. So great a part has this fly played in 
African exploration, that a brief description of it may well be given 
here. 

This dangerous insect, in size about that of the common house 
fly, owes its fatality to its power of carrying the germs of infection 
from one person or animal to another, as the mosquito transmits the 
yellow fever and malaria germs. Fortunately its bite, while fatal to 
the horse, ox and dog, has little effect upon man. The mule, goat and 
wild animals generally are also immune. It has, however, been re- 
cently discovered, as narrated in a former chapter, that the terrible 



3 io LIVINGSTONE'S MISSIONARY TRAVELS 

disease known as sleeping sickness is transmitted by a species of the 
tsetse-fly. 

At the end of this third journey Livingstone reached the court of 
Sebituane, and looked on the face of the man whose name was the 
most widely known and feared throughout the region between Cape 
Colony and the Zambesi. He was a man in the prime of life, tall and 
strong, of an olive color, and "more frank in his answers than any 
other chief I ever met." His career had been a checkered one, and it 
was due to his great courage and ability that he had won for himself 
the position he held as chief of the warlike Makololo. He received 
Livingstone most warmly, and it was a keen sorrow to the latter and 
a great blow to his hopes when Sebituane died within a month of his 
arrival. 

Sebituane was succeeded by Mamochisane, his daughter, and she 
gave Livingstone and Oswell permission to go anywhere they pleased 
throughout her country. They at once, marched northward to find the 
great river of which the natives had spoken, and at the end of June, 
185 1, their search was rewarded at Sesheke by the discovery of the 
Zambesi in the heart of Africa. 

This was a discovery of great geographical importance, besides 
bearing directly on Livingstone's cherished scheme of finding and 
opening routes to the oceans on either hand. Though it was then the 
dry season the stream was of evident importance. Livingstone says 
of it: "The river was at its lowest, and yet there was a breadth of 
from three hundred to six hundred yards of deep flowing water. At 
the period of its annual inundation it rises fully twenty feet in per- 
pendicular height, and floods fifteen or twenty miles of land adjacent 
to its banks." 

The idea which now arose in the traveler's mind was to follow 
this large stream from its source to its outlet on the coast. But this 
he could not do without parting- from his family, and he accordingly 
resolved to send them to England, to remain there while his explora- 
tions continued. He accordingly took them to Cape Town, which he 
had last seen eleven years before. Their absence was to be for two 
years, but the exigencies of African travel were such that five years 
passed before he saw them again. And when they met he had sprung 



LIVINGSTONE'S MISSIONARY TRAVELS 311 

from the position of an obscure missionary into that of the most famous 
of modern travelers. 

On the nth of November, 1853, Livingstone set out on a journey 
which was to end at Loanda on the Atlantic coast of Africa. He had 
sent his companions back to Kuruman and the Cape, and took with 
him instead twenty-seven men whom Sekeletu, then the Makololo chief, 
provided. These men, Livingstone said, might have been called Zam- 
besians, for there were only two true Makololo among them. 

In these latter days of exploring Africa with elaborate equip- 
ments and large armed forces, Livingstone's outfit is worth noting. 
For food he took "only a few biscuits, a few pounds of tea and sugar, 
and about twenty pounds of coffee." Of clothing he had some in a 
small tin box for use on reaching the civilized towns on the coast ; of 
books he had three — a Bible, a nautical almanac and Thomson's Lo- 
garithm Tables. Of course he had his journal with him — a toughly 
bound book of more than eight hundred pages. His stock of medicines 
was enclosed in a tin box, and the precious sextant, thermometer, and 
compasses were carried separately. For his followers he had three 
muskets, for himself a rifle and double-barrelled gun, these to be used 
only in the obtaining of food ; and, failing the presence of game, about 
twenty pounds of beads were taken to purchase food from the natives. 
Livingstone's bed was a horse-rug, his blanket a sheep-skin. The sole 
protection he afforded himself from tempestuous weather was repre- 
sented by a small gipsy tent. One more item remains to be noticed. 
He had been given by Mr. Murray a magic-lantern with slides of 
Scripture scenes, and this always afforded entertainment to the vari- 
ous audiences he met in his journey. "It was," he wrote, "the only 
mode of instruction I was ever pressed to repeat." 

The journey now before him was one of six months of toil and 
hardship, during which he followed the Zambesi until it branched off 
to the northeast, away from his chosen route. The Leeba, which here 
joined it, led him to Lake Ditolo, whence he made his way over the 
hill country of the Basouge. Finally, on the 31st of May, 1854, he 
reached the Atlantic coast at Loanda, the chief town in Portuguese 
West Africa. He had achieved a feat which no former white man had 
ever attempted and the tidings of which roused the world's attention 
to the utmost. Here are a few extracts from his journal : 



3i2 LIVINGSTONE'S MISSIONARY TRAVELS 

"The forests became more dense as we went north. We traveled 
much more in the deep gloom of the forest than in open sunlight. 
Large climbing plants entwined themselves around the trunks and 
branches of gigantic trees like boa-constrictors; and they often do 
constrict the trees by which they rise, and, killing them, stand erect 
themselves. There were other trees quite new to my companions; 
many of them ran up to a height of fifty feet of one thickness and 
without branches. 

"The number of little villages seemed about equal to the number 
of valleys. . . . Every village had its idols near it. This is the 
case all through the country of the Balonda; so that, when we came 
to an idol in the woods, we always knew that we were within a quarter 
of an hour of human habitations. 

"We came to a most lovely valley about a mile and a half wide. 
A small stream meanders down the center of this pleasant green glen ; 
and on a little rill which flows into it from the western side stands the 
town of Kabompo — or, as he likes best to be called, Shinte. We found 
the town embowered in banana and other tropical trees having great 
expansion of leaf. . . . Here we first saw native huts with square 
walls and round roofs. The fences or walla of the courts which sur- 
round the huts are wonderfully straight, and made of upright poles 
a few inches apart, with strong grass or leafy bushes neatly woven 
between. In the courts were small plantations of tobacco and a little 
solanaceous plant which these Balonda use as a relish ; also sugar and 
bananas." 

Throughout this journey Livingstone suffered greatly from fever, 
and he arrived at Loanda a mere "bag of bones," so reduced was his 
frame by the constant recurrence of the malaria. Here is a remark 
which shows that he suffered from more than the actual disease : "On 
Sunday, the 19th, both I and several of our party were seized with 
fever, and I could do nothing but toss about in my little tent, with the 
thermometer above 90 degrees, though this was the beginning of 
winter, and my men made as much shade as possible by planting 
branches of trees all round and over it. We have, for the first time 
in my experience in Africa, had a cold wind from the north. All the 
winds from that quarter are hot, and those from the south are cold; 
but they seldom blow from either direction." 




THE TREACHERY OF A WOUNDED DERVISH 

An incident in the Soudan War, 1S9S 




THE LAST STAND OF THE KHALIFA'S STANDARD BEARER 

A thrilling incident in the late Soudan war. "That one man, alone, was standing alive, holding his 

flag upright, a storm of lead sweeping past him — his comrades dead around him " 




BATTLE BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND THE ZULUS, SOUTH AFRICA. iS7g 



LIVINGSTONE'S MISSIONARY TRAVELS 313 

No wonder was it that Livingstone rejoiced at reaching Loanda 
at last! His mind worn and depressed by disease and care, his body 
wasted with fever and chronic dysentery, he was in a position to re- 
ceive with all the gratitude of a grateful nature the kindness of the 
one Englisman living in Loanda at that time. This was Mr. Gabriel, 
the British commissioner for the. suppression of the slave trade. "See- 
ing me ill," wrote Livingstone, "he benevolently offered me his bed. 
Never shall I forget the luxuriant pleasure I enjoyed in feeling myself 
again on a good English couch, after six months sleeping on the 
ground. I was soon asleep !" 



CHAPTER XXXIII 

Livingstone's Journey Across Africa 

THE journey which had ended successfully at Loanda, in spite 
of numerous physical difficulties and the extortion and hos- 
tility of certain chiefs, had not fulfilled all Livingstone had 
hoped. The country he. had discovered was highly injurious to the 
health of Europeans, and could not therefore be regarded as suitable 
for the great mission center ever before his eyes; and the difficulties 
of the route precluded its proving an easy and safe highroad from the 
interior of the continent to the sea. He had still before him the dis- 
covery of these two necessities for the development and evangelization 
of the natives, and to a man of Livingstone's intense conscientiousness 
this discovery appeared in the light of an immediate duty. Moreover, 
his faithful Makololo, who had accompanied him for so many hundreds 
of miles to the shores of the great sea, and who had looked upon the 
white man's "canoe" in the shape of a British war-vessel, and had 
declared it to be "no canoe, but a town" — these men could not be 
allowed to find their way back to Linyanti. Their leader must take 
them himself. 

In the meanwhile, however, that leader was prostrated by a severe 
attack of fever, lying for long weeks on a bed of sickness, though 
carefully tended by his fellow-countryman, Mr. Gabriel. On his 
recovery, Livingstone set about acknowledging the many kindnesses 
that had been shown him by the Portuguese authorities, and investi- 
gating the state of affairs in Loanda and Angola, and the real policy 
of the government. 

The trade in slaves, of which, as he had drawn nearer and nearer 
to the coast, he had met increasing traces as well as proofs, was the 
uppermost idea in his mind. Despite the hospitality and personal 
courtesy of the Portuguese he encountered at Loanda, he could not 
but see that the attitude of hostility to the slave trade which they had 

(314) 



LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 



3*5 



recently announced was a mere political form, and that the material as 
well as the personal interests of the officials led them to foster secretly, 
if not openly, traffic in flesh and blood. Nothing could exceed his 
gratitude for their kindness to him, but nothing could weaken his firm 
conviction that many of them had at heart the prosperity of the slave 
trade. 




LIVINGSTONE AND "SINBAD" HUNTING AN ELEPHANT 

Although Livingstone was not content with the discoveries he 
had made on his way from Linyanti, there were not wanting others 
who viewed his work with the very highest appreciation. The Royal 
Geographical Society regarded it so favorably, that it awarded him 
the Patron's Gold Medal. Livingstone, indeed, was not unknown to 
the society, for it had already made him a grant on his discovery of 
Lake Ngami. 



3 i6 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 

This last achievement was of great importance; for he had not 
only passed through entirely new country, taking most elaborate and 
careful notes of the geographical facts which everywhere presented 
themselves to him, and entering most fully into considerations of the 
social fabric of the inhabitants and the capabilities of their environ- 
ment, but he had also made very many astronomical calculations, deter- 
mining his exact route, and adding greatly to the value of his maps. 
His care and exactness in this direction were afterwards highly 
commended hy Sir Thomas Maclear, astronomer-royal at the Cape. 

On the 20th of September, 1854, he turned his back upon Loanda 
and set out on his return journey to Linyanti. He had been six months 
on the road to Loanda, he was to be twice that long on his return, 
while six months more were to be spent in travel before he would reach 
Quilimane, on the Pacific, and complete his signal feat of crossing 
Africa, a journey which was to bring him the unbounded plaudits of 
the world. 

We have already dealt with his journey between Linyanti and 
the ocean, and need only say that on his return he added greatly to 
his store of geographical facts, especially gaining much information 
about the affluents of the Congo River. 

On arriving at Lake Dilolo, Livingstone discovered that this com- 
paratively small body of water emptied its waters both into the Zam- 
besi and the Kasai; and that, consequently, it distributed its contents 
as far as the Indian Ocean on the one side, and the Atlantic dh the 
other. It was through this circumstance that the continental struc- 
ture of Africa became clear to him. The rivers, in the western por- 
tion, flowed from elevated ridges into the center, and he had learnt 
from the Arabs that much the same occurred in the eastern portion. 
But that while one drainage system had a southerly declivity, the other 
pursued a northerly course. In other words, the two great drains of 
Central Africa are the Congo and the Zambesi. 

During his return he met with many of the native chiefs who 
had been kind to him on his westward journey and rewarded some of 
them with valued presents. With one of these, Sambanza, he per- 
formed the ceremony of blood-brotherhood, which is so curious that 
it is worth describing in his words 



LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 317 

"The hands of the parties are joined; small incisions are made on 
the clasped hands, on the pits of the stomach of each, and on the right 
cheeks and foreheads. A small quantity of blood is taken off from 
these points in both parties by means of a stalk of grass. The blood 
from one person is put into one pot of native beer, and that of the 
second into another; each then drinks the other's blood, and they are 
supposed to become perpetual friends or relations. During the drink- 
ing of the beer, some of the party continue beating the ground with 
short clubs, and utter sentences by way of ratifying the treaty. The 
men belonging to each then finish the beer. The principals in the 
performance of 'kasendi' are henceforth considered blood-relations, 
and are bound to disclose to each other any impending evil." The 
new-made brothers clench the compact by presenting to each other the 
most valuable things they have about them. 

Malarious fever and native hostility were not the only dangers 
that Livingstone had to face. The wild animals which abound in the 
Zambesi basin often proved formidable obstacles in the path. Liv- 
ingstone, however, never feared the lion much, and in his writings 
he did his best to dethrone that "lord of the desert" from his place in 
public estimation. Both the elephant and buffalo he considered more 
dangerous to the unoffending traveler, and on one occasion in this jour- 
ney he narrowly escaped from death through the malicious attack of a 
buffalo. 

In September, 1855, the party marched into Sesheke, a Makololo 
town on the Zambesi, and Livingstone found some goods and letters, 
which had been lying there for twelve months, awaiting his return. 
Not only had nothing been taken, but a hut had been built over them 
for protection from the weather. Similarly, on reaching Linyanti he 
found everything just as he had left it. This was a striking example 
of honesty, for the Makololo were feared through a wide region for 
their marauding spirit and fondness for raiding among their neigh- 
bors' cattle. 

The return of the travelers was a time of great rejoicing. All 
the wonderful things which the Makololo had seen and met with were 
rehearsed a hundred times to an audience whose appreciation never 
waned, and whose appetite seemed only whetted by the tales of the 
marvelous adventures their kinsmen had gone through. The pres- 



3 i8 LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 

ents that the Portuguese officials and merchants had sent to Sekeletu 
were duly delivered; and "on Sunday," says Livingstone, "when Sek- 
eletu made his appearance at church in his uniform, it attracted more 
attention than the sermon." 

On the 3d of November, 1855, Livingstone left Linyanti and re- 
sumed his long march across Africa. Sekeletu and a large number of 
followers accompanied him for some distance, and then bade him an 
affectionate farewell. 

A day or so after parting from Sekeletu, Livingstone came in 
sight of the great falls of the Zambesi, and which were known to the 
natives as "Mosi-oa-tunya" — "smoke does sound there." The noble 
river, a mile in width, sweeps down a broad and wooded valley, which, 
sloping gently back from the banks, culminates in swelling hills some 
three or four hundred feet in height. Trees of many kinds, from the 
massive baobab to the slender palm, grow in clumps or singly upon 
this grassy slope. From the bosom of the river arise palm-fostering 
island's, and on its banks the silver cedar spreads its branches, the 
clustering fruit of the wild date-palm gleams like gold, and the scarlet- 
fruited cypress lifts its dark head above the surrounding foliage. The 
vegetation is tropical, but the scene has a repose which is rare indeed 
in a region where all forms of life are exuberant and aggressive. 

These are some of the beauties of the most remarkable scene in 
the Zambesi basin. But the traveler passes them by almost unheeded ; 
for right in front of him, and riveting his gaze, there rise into the 
heavens five lofty columns of vapor. These five great towers of 
Nature's building curl and bend to the faintest breeze, and yet never 
cease to soar till they are dissipated in the rarified atmosphere of 
greater elevation, or, mingling with the clouds of a spent storm, are 
lost from view. They are the sentinels over the most wonderful sight 
Nature has prepared for man in Africa — a physical phenomenon of 
a pre-eminence which induced Livingstone to baptize them with a 
name of equal pre-eminence in his own country, and reveal to an as- 
tounded world that unrivalled plunge of waters as the Victoria Falls. 

Livingstone cautiously paddled to an island in mid-stream and 
on the very brink of the falls, and this is what met his view : "Creep- 
ing with awe to the verge, I peered down into a large rent which had 



LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 319 

been made from bank to bank of the broad Zambesi. . . . In 
looking down into the fissure on the right of the island, one sees noth- 
ing but a dense white cloud, which, at the time we visited the spot, had 
two bright rainbows on it. ' From this cloud rushed up a great jet of 
vapor exactly like steam, and it mounted two or three hundred feet 
high ; there, condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smoke, and 
came back in a constant shower. . . . On the left of the island 
we see the water at the bottom, a white rolling mass moving away to 
the prolongation of the fissure, which branches off near the left bank 
of the river. . * . . The entire falls are simply a crack made in a 
hard basaltic rock from the right to the left bank of the Zambesi, and 
then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or forty miles 
of hills. . . . The walls of this gigantic crack are perpendicular, 
and composed of one homogeneous mass of rock." 

These falls are about three hundred feet high and eighteen hun- 
dred yards in width. The fissure into which they plunge is so narrow 
as to be invisible till the verge is reached. Livingstone was so im- 
pressed with this splendid creation that he retraced his steps and per- 
suaded Sekeletu to visit the falls with him. The effect on the native 
mind was one of intense awe. 

The country through which they passed after leaving the falls 
was exceedingly beautiful. At first furrowed by wide fertile glens, 
and afterwards opening out into a luxuriant plain, abounding with 
animal life and vegetation, and possessing the inestimable advantage 
of salubrity, the Doctor felt that he had at last reached the land of 
promise for the missionary cause. Many of the hills were of pure 
white marble, and pink marble formed the bed of more than one of 
the contributory streams. Upon the plains enormous herds of zebras, 
buffaloes and elephants grazed between the patches of dense forest 
which here and there studded the grassy level. Through this country 
the Zambesi rolled toward the coast at the rate of about four miles 
an hour, while flocks of water-fowl swarmed upon its banks or took 
their flight across its waters. 

So plentiful was game, that the leading men had frequently to 
shout to the elephants or buffaloes which stood in their path. Some- 
times an elephant would charge right through the little party; at 



3 2o LIVINGSTONE'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 

another time it would be a buffalo. Upon one occasion several buffa- 
loes suddenly charged at full gallop into their midst, one of them toss- 
ing a Makololo high into the air. Wonderful to relate, he fell upon 
the ground uninjured! He had been carried some distance on the 
horns of the buffalo, and then tossed ; yet not only was no bone broken, 
but even the skin was uninjured. The man was carefully "sham- 
pooed" — or, to use a phrase more in vogue just now, massaged — and 
in a few days was actively engaged in hunting buffaloes for food. 

In March Livingstone arrived at Tete, the furthest outpost of the 
Portuguese, and was most kindly received by the governor. Fever 
again prostrated him, and it was not till the end of April that he could 
set out once more for Quilimane. He left his Makololo men at Tete. 
Nearly three years elapsed before he rejoined them, but he had' prom- 
ised' to return and take them home, and, believing in him implicitly, 
they had remained. 

Livingstone went from Tete to Sena, and, though suffering 
greatly from fever, he pushed on as soon as he could move, and passing 
the important affluence of the Shire River, finally reached Quilimane, 
and gazed on the gleaming waters of the Indian Ocean on the 20th of 
May, 1856. 

Though the welcome which awaited the great traveler on his 
return to England is of high interest, we must pass it by with a few 
words, as having no immediate relation to our main topic. He reached 
home on December 9, 1856, to meet his wife and children, from whom 
he had parted more than five years before. The fame of his exploits 
had preceded him and his welcome to England was as warm as wel- 
come could be. The Royal Geographical and the London Missionary 
Societies called special meetings to greet him, and on all sides he was 
sought and honored in every suitable way, the Queen being among 
those who asked for the honor of an interview. His work, "Missionary 
Travels," proved of intense interest, and the first edition of twelve 
thousand copies, published at a guinea each, was immediately ex- 
hausted. That he should' return and continue his work was every- 
where desired, and in February, 1858, he was appointed British Consul 
for East Africa and offered the leadership of an expedition to explore 
Central and Eastern Africa. With this object in view he set sail again 
for his chosen field of labor. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

Livingstone on the Zambesi 

LEAVING England on the ioth of March, the Zambesi Expedi- 
tion reached the mouth of the river in May, Mrs. Livingstone, 
who was in poor health, being left at Cape Town on the route, 
to rejoin her husband later. The reception given the great traveler 
at Cape Town was remarkably different from that which he had form- 
erly received, and at an enthusiastic public meeting Sir George Grey, 
the governor, presented him with eight hundred guineas in a silver 
casket, which had been raised by public subscription as a testimonial 
to the value of his services to Cape Colony. 

Among the members of the expedition were Charles Livingstone, 
the missionary's brother, and Dr. John Kirk, the naturalist and physi- 
cian of the expedition, and the party brought with them, packed in 
sections, a small steam launch for use on the Zambesi, which was 
named "Ma-Robert/' after his wife, who had been given that name by 
the Bakwains in accordance with their custom of naming the mother 
(Ma) after her first born. 

The Zambesi is the great drain of the pastoral belt of South 
Africa, and its basin has an area of some eight hundred thousand 
square miles — or, in other words, is more than four times the size of 
France. The importance of the river and its fertile basin is great, and 
the recent labors of the English and Scotch in various parts of the 
country which lie within its drainage system have revealed with 
emphasis the value of the discoveries and pioneering of Livingstone 
a generation ago. 

The shores of the delta are low, closely embraced by a mangrove 
jungle, and pierced on all sides by those stagnant lagoons which the 
dense and spreading roots of the mangrove invariably create or foster. 
For some twenty miles inland from the Kongone mouth, up which the 
"Ma-Robert" steamed, the mangrove jungle was found to be very 
dense ; and 'Livingstone, making every effort to reach a more healthy 



322 LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI 

region, passed through a belt of wide level plains of rich, alluvial soil, 
covered with grass which grew to a height of over ten feet. The 
natives of this belt of country live in houses raised on piles above the 
reach of flood, and entered by ladders. 

Passing Sena, which is built on the level bank of the Zambesi, the 
Doctor pressed forward to Tete. Here he was received by the 
Makololo — whom he had left there nearly three years before — with 
the greatest affection and enthusiasm. Some of them had died, but the 
survivors philosophically remarked that "men die in any country." 
Tete stands upon some low ridges on the right bank of the Zambesi, 
and in Livingstone's time it was surrounded by a stone and mud wall, 
the huts of the natives being outside this line of defence. The Doctor 
found many tons of indigo growing, not only in the vicinity, but even 
in the streets of the town. Indeed, the indigo plant was the chief weed 
of the place, and regarded as such a nuisance that it was annually 
burned off, exactly in the same way as the natives burned off the tall 
jungle grass. 

A short distance above Tete, the navigation of the Zambesi is 
interrupted by the Kebrabasa Rapids. Livingstone and Kirk exam- 
ined these falls with the greatest care no less than three times, and 
they came to the conclusion that, while impossible of navigation at 
ordinary times, it might be possible to do so at the flood season, when 
the river rose to a great height in the rocky canyon which formed its 
bed, and buried the rocks and rapids below. But the force of 'the 
stream at this time was too great for the "Ma-Robert" to stem, and 
accordingly Livingstone sent a report back to the Government, point- 
ing out the difficulties, and asking for a more powerful steamer. 

In the meanwhile, he turned his attention to the Shire, a large 
affluent of the Zambesi, which it enters above the delta. Of this river 
the Portuguese could tell him nothing but what was erroneous. An 
expedition, it was said, had attempted to ascend it in former years, but 
the impenetrable mass of aquatic vegetation had made advance impos- 
sible. Upon entering the Shire, in January, 1859, a good deal of duck- 
weed was met with, but never in sufficient mass to stem the progress 
of canoes or boats, and after a few miles it almost disappeared. The 
natives, however, were very much in evidence, and at first assumed an 



LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI 323 

attitude of marked hostility. But on being told that the white men 
were English, and that statement receiving some support from the 
entirely novel boat in which they traveled, the natives became friendly, 
and Tingane, a notorious chief, and a known foe to the Portuguese, 
extended his hospitality and protection toward them. 

A hundred miles "as the crow flies" from the confluence of the 
Shire and Zambesi — or, if the meanderings of the river are taken into 
account, some two hundred miles from that point — further navigation 
was prevented by the lowest of those large cataracts which Living- 
stone afterwards called the Murchison Cataracts. As the natives were 
too suspicious — they kept watch over the little party night and day — 
for it to be prudent to advance along the bank, the Doctor sent friendly 
messages to the neighboring chiefs, with a view to future relations, 
and returned to Tete. 

A month later, he and Kirk again arrived at the foot of the falls, 
and, traveling in a northeasterly direction across country, they came 
to the shores of Lake Shirwa on the 19th of April, 1859. This lake 
had never been heard of before, and consequently it was a genuine, 
an absolute discovery. Some seventy miles in length and twenty in 
breadth, Lake Shirwa lies amid beautiful scenery. The lofty ridge of 
Zomba, nine thousand feet in height, which separates the lake from 
the Shire, is its western boundary; and on the east rises the Malanje 
chain, a ridge of equal magnitude. But the importance of this dis- 
covery was enhanced tenfold when Livingstone learnt from the natives 
around its shores that there was another lake to the north, only 
separated from the Shirwa by a narrow belt of land, and compared 
with which the Shirwa "was nothing in size." 

In August the Shire was ascended for the third time. The people 
on this occasion were in nearly every case peaceably inclined, and Liv- 
ingstone had ample opportunity to study their customs and inquire 
into their beliefs. It was here he first met with the pelele contrivance, 
which in the opinion of the native women so greatly adorns them. 
When told it was ugly, they replied much as their European sisters 
might — "Really ! It is the fashion." The pelele consists of a ring so 
inserted in the upper lip as to draw it out in a horizontal line at least 
two inches beyond the nose. The ring may be of metal or ivory, and 
is inserted at an early age. 



3 2 4 LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI 

On the 1 6th of September, 1859, the great Lake Nyassa was 
discovered. This lake is more than three hundred miles in length, 
and about forty miles in width. It fills a long trench, which is some 
six hundred feet deep below the level of the lake, and is walled in on 
the east by a lofty range of mountains, reaching in the northeast an 
elevation of ten thousand feet. The lake was found to be right in the 
track of a great inland trade. From the country of Katanga and 
Cazembe, from those densely peopled districts lying west of the 
Nyasa, came Arab caravans bringing the products of the country — 
ivory, malachite, copper ornaments, and too often, even then, gangs 
of slaves — down to the east coast, to the ports of the Portuguese and 
the Arabs, to Iboe, Mozambique and Kilwa. 

One of the results of Livingstone's many letters home, urging the 
necessity and pointing out the advantages of opening up the Shire 
valley and the shores of Lake Nyassa by missionary labor and the 
founding of a colony, was evidenced early in 1861 by the arrival of 
several members of the Oxford and Cambridge Mission to Africa. 
At their head, to guide and control, was Bishop Mackenzie, a hard- 
working and patient man. With them arrived the "Pioneer," a 
steamer sent by the Government in reply to Livingstone's request, and 
which was to be utilized now for work on the Shire. The 
"Ma-Robert" had succumbed to her many ailments by making a final 
exit on a sandbank near Sena. Livingstone in the meanwhile had 
written home to his friend, Mr. James Young, asking him to purchase 
another steamer out of the ample funds which "Missionary Travels" 
had raised for him, and consequently good days appeared to be in 
store for those who had been exhausting time and strength in their 
heavily handicapped struggle for the regeneration of Africa. 

Up to this point a good deal had been done in spite of all diffi- 
culties. The Kongone arm of the Zambesi and an important entrance 
from the sea had been discovered, navigated, and laid down in charts ; 
the navigability of the Zambesi as far as the Kebrabasa Falls was 
demonstrated; the great river Shire had been practically discovered 
and navigated for the first time. Lake Shirwa was another discovery; 
and, to cap the whole, there had been found, lying amid the lofty ridges 
which some four hundred miles inland run parallel with the coast of 



LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI 325 

Eastern Africa, a lake of such extent and character as to alone justify 
the existence and work of the expedition. 

On his arrival at Kongone, Bishop Mackenzie was all anxiety to 
proceed at once to the Shire. But as the "Pioneer" was under orders 
to explore the Rovuma River, with a view to ascertaining whether an 
alternative water route to the Nyassa existed, and there being no other 
boat available, his immediate departure was impossible. The Bishop 
finally agreed to accompany Livingstone in his trip up the Rovuma. 

While on the Rovuma the "Pioneer" proved to draw too much 
water for the tortuous and frequently shallow reaches of African 
rivers. On the Shire, to which it afterwards proceeded, this defect 
came out in startling prominence. Many a time she grounded where 
a vessel drawing but a few inches less would have passed with ease. 
On one occasion a whole fortnight was employed in getting her off a 
bank of drifting sand, which she had only just grazed. 

In ascending the Shire, Livingstone realized a truth of which, 
both then and ever since, the exploration of Africa has yielded 
abundant proof. Too often, if not invariably, the pluck and suffering 
of the traveler in opening up new routes and discovering contented if 
ignorant races have been ill rewarded by the immediate result. For 
in his steps have come the Arab and half-caste traders, and guided by 
his discoveries they have laid waste the smiling fields, burnt the vil- 
lages and towns, and carried off the people in chains to be sold as 
slaves. Throughout Central Africa this rule has obtained. The 
advance of the Arabs from the coast has practically depopulated vast 
tracts of the interior, and even the development of the Congo Free 
State has not been an unmixed blessing. The Arabs, taking advantage 
of European philanthropy, have actually been helped in their trade in 
slaves by the advantages which the great commercial highway has 
placed in their hands. 

With deep disappointment Livingstone piloted the combined 
forces of the expedition and mission up the Shire. When near the 
Murchison Cataracts they met, Livingstone says, "a long line of mana- 
cled men, women, and children. The black owners, armed with 
muskets and bedecked with various articles of finery, marched jauntily 
in the front, middle, and rear of the line ; some of them blowing exul- 



326 LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI 

tant notes out of long tin horns. They seemed to feel that they were 
doing a very noble thing, and might proudly march with an air of 
triumph. But the instant the fellows caught a glimpse of the English 
they darted off like mad into the forest." This was certainly a com- 
pliment to the nation which Livingstone represented, and one which 
would never have been paid to the Portuguese. The slaves were 
released from their chains, and taken charge of by the mission. 

A few days afterwards the mission fixed their first station at 
Magomero, the town of the chief Chigunda, and which lay on the 
eastern slope of the Zomba range ; and the members of the expedition 
bade them farewell. By way of parting advice, and in answer to an 
inquiry of the Bishop's as to his protecting vi et armis the Manganjas 
from the marauding Ajawa, Livingstone declared most emphatically 
that such a policy would lead to mischief. "You will be oppressed by 
their importunities, but do not interfere with native quarrels." Had 
such advice been heeded, the troubles which subsequently beset the 
mission would probably have been avoided. 

On leaving the mission at Magomero, the Doctor with Charles 
Livingstone and John Kirk started for Nyassa. The "Pioneer" was 
left at Chibisa's, at the foot of the Murchison Cataracts, and a small 
boat was carried along the banks for some forty miles until they could 
put it on the upper Shire. Thence they proceeded to the Nyassa, arriv- 
ing at the lake on the 2d of September. The months of September 
and October which Livingstone spent on the lake were stormy, and 
these mountain ranges drew down upon its surface fierce and sudden 
gusts of wind. The squalls would come with a sudden rush, only 
discernible by the white line of leaping breakers before they swooped 
down upon the small boat with a roar, and often was Livingstone 
caught and detained on his detour of the lake by these dangerous 
storms. 

"Never before in Africa," he writes, "have we seen anything like 
me dense population on the shores of Lake Nyassa. In the southern 
part there was an almost unbroken chain of villages. On the beach of 
well-nigh every little bay dark crowds were standing, gazing at the 
novel sight of a boat under sail; and wherever we landed we were 
surrounded in a few seconds by hundreds of men, women, and children, 



LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI 327 

who hastened to have a stare at the 'chirombo' — wild animals. To 
see the animals feed was the greatest attraction; never did the Zoo- 
logical Society's lions or monkeys draw more sightseers than we did. 
The wondering multitude crowded round us at meal-times and formed 
a thicket of dark bodies, all looking on, apparently, with the deepest 
interest ; but they good-naturedly kept each other to a line we made on 
the sand, and left us room to dine. Twice they went the length of lift- 
ing up the edge of our sail, which we used as a tent, as boys do the 
curtains of traveling menageries at home. ... At one village 
only were they impudent, but they were 'elevated' by beer. . . . 
They cultivate the soil pretty extensively, and grow large quantities 
of rice and sweet potatoes, as well as maize, mapira, and millet. In 
the north, however, cassava is the staple product, which, with fish kept 
till the flavor is high, constitutes the main support of the inhabitants." 

While Livingstone struck inland for a short trip, the boat with 
his brother and Dr. Kirk proceeded northward some distance; and 
where the mountainous coasts seemed, owing to a haze, to draw 
together, they placed the northern extremity of the lake — that is, 
about eleven degrees south. As a matter of fact a more careful survey, 
undertaken later on by Mr. E. D. Young, established the limit as being 
about nine and one-half degrees south — a clear gain in length to this 
inland sea of a degree and a half, or rather over a hundred miles. 

The 30th of January, 1862, was a great day for the Doctor. 
H. M. S. "Gorgon" appeared off the mouth of the Kongone, and Liv- 
ingstone, steaming out in the "Pioneer," went on board, to find his 
wife, and a steamer which he had ordered through James Young, and 
which was intended for work on the Nyassa. Mrs. Livingstone had 
been in England since parting with her husband at Cape Town, but 
had now come out to join him in his work. She was not to help him 
for long. 

The unhealthy season was its height, and the party were delayed 
at Shupanga by the slow process of conveying the many sections of the 
"Lady Nyassa" to that place and there fitting them together. The 
surrounding low land, rank with vegetation, and reeking from the late 
rainy season, exhaled the malarious poison in enormous quantities. 
On the 2 1 st of April, Mrs. Livingstone fell ill — on the 27th she died. 



328 LIVINGSTONE ON THE ZAMBESI 

Although Livingstone touches on this grief but slightly in his 
journal— and which is consistent with his almost complete suppression 
of personal and religious feelings in that book — the death of his wife 
was a great blow. In his private journal we find evidence of his sor- 
rowing, though not as one without hope. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

Livingstone's Last Journey 

WHILE Livingstone was busy in the explorations described 
in former chapters, other explorers were seeking to solve 
various parts of the African problem. Among these was 
Captain Richard F. Burton, who in 1858 discovered the great Lake 
Tanganyika, northeast of Lake Nyassa and out of the range of Liv- 
ingstone's former journeys. This lake was the scene of the great 
Scotchman's final enterprise. 

Having raised the necessary funds with great difficulty, he set 
out from Zanzibar in March, 1866, for the exploration of this import- 
ant inland sea, the southern end of which he reached after a march of 
great hardship. In this locality he remained for the succeeding three 
years, discovering the large lakes Moero and Bangweolo, his main 
purpose being to trace the course of a noble stream of this region, the 
Lualaba River, which he hoped' to identify as the head stream of the 
Nile. As later explorers have discovered, it forms really the head 
waters of the Congo, its outlet being in the Atlantic instead of 
the Mediterranean. 

More than twenty years of persistent African travel had weak- 
ened the powers of the stalwart traveler, he having been a score and 
more of times prostrated by the severe African fevers. During this, 
his last venture, these fevers again frequently attacked him, and lack 
of medicines unfitted him to combat them. Early in 1869 he set out 
for Ujiji, the principal place on the eastern side of Lake Tanganyika, 
but was so debilitated that he had to be carried by his faithful fol- 
lowers. As soon as he felt able to walk, he set out for the Manyuema 
country, on the northwestern side of the lake. He reached Bambarre, 
a town in this country, on September 21, 1869. 

Manyuema was at that time quite unknown, though rumor had 
given its people a bad name. But this did not deter Livingstone, whose 
k (329) 



33o LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY 

earnest desire was to explore the course of the Lualaba and ascertain 
if it could be identified with the Nile. Reaching this stream he made 
an attempt to navigate it for some distance, but ill-health and the 
sullen obstinacy of the natives sent him back to Bambarre. In June, 
1870, he started again, accompanied only by three "faithfuls" — Susi, 
Chuma, and Gardner; but again failing health drove him back. For 
nearly three months he was laid up with ulcers on the feet, and this 
may help to explain the following remark in his journal: "I read the 
whole Bible through four times whilst I was in Manyuema." 

The first of January, 1871, found him still weak and waiting at 
Bambarre. Then ten men out of a much larger number arrived, sent 
from Zanzibar by Dr. Kirk, the consul, and Livingstone's old friend. 
They left Zanzibar with over forty letters for the doctor ; they arrived 
with one ! They were worthless scoundrels, who mutinied as soon as 
he started westward, and threatened to return to their comrades, 
whom they had left at Ujiji with the stores for the doctor, and who 
were meanwhile living on them. By dint of great persistence, how- 
ever, Livingstone managed to reach the Lualaba by the end of March, 
and to his deep disappointment he found that the river had a some- 
what westerly course, and was more probably the Congo than the Nile. 

Five years had now passed since he left Zanzibar, years of con- 
tinual disappointment and ill-health. His efforts to continue his work 
were now prevented by the mutinous behavior of his escort, who said 
that they had orders to return to Ujiji after finding him. He was: 
obliged to accompany them and on reaching this place, 600 miles away, 
he found that the rascal who had charge of his stores had stolen the 
whole of them. 

His body racked by pain and disease, his mind tormented by a 
series of bitter disappointments, his efforts thwarted and hopes blasted 
by the conduct of his very servants, and then on returning at last to 
Ujiji only to find that the means he required to buy even his daily bread 
had been dissipated by a scoundrel who had added to the crime of theft 
the vice of hypocrisy (the fellow had divined on the Koran, and found 
that the doctor was dead), — surely at this hour Livingstone was 
passing through a trial fiery enough to have consumed all his patience 
and resignation! But just at this moment, when his spirits were at 
their lowest ebb, help of the most unexpected kind was at hand. 



LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY 331 

On the 10th of November, 1871, a well-equipped caravan entered 
Ujiji to the usual accompaniment of gun-firing, shouting and singing. 
Tents, saddles, kettles, and a large bath figured prominently on the 
heads of the pa gads or carriers. In front of the advancing company 
the American flag was carried, proclaiming to Livingstone the nation- 
ality of the new arrival. The caravan was that which was fitted out 
by Mr. Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, and the white 
man in command, who came forward with such emotion to grasp the 
doctor's hands, was Henry M. Stanley, Welsh by birth and American 
by adoption, and the traveling correspondent of that enterprising 
paper. He came with unlimited resources at his back, not only to find 
Livingstone, but to relieve him as well. 

Owing to a native war which had closed the ordinary caravan 
route, Stanley had been obliged to leave most of his stores at Unyan- 
yembe, the great Arab settlement between Ujiji and the east coast, and 
reach the lake by a circuitous path. It was arranged therefore that 
he and Livingstone should return together to Unyanyembe, and that 
the doctor, who in spite of his many sufferings was determined not to 
go home till he had finished his work, should there receive a sufficient 
quantity of cloth, beads and stores for his further explorations. While 
waiting at Ujiji, however, Stanley and he proceeded to the north end 
of the lake to ascertain, once and for all, if the river Lusizi drained the 
Tanganyika or merely flowed into it. The latter was found to be the 
case and' the long-disputed question of the connection of the Tangan- 
yika with the Victoria Nyanza or the Albert Nyanza was decided in 
the negative. 

On returning from this discovery Mr. Stanley was prostrated 
by fever; and, indeed, throughout the journey to Unyanyembe, which 
had been postponed for sQme weeks on account of his illness, he suf- 
fered more or less from fever, and at times was so weak that he had 
to be carried on the march. When Unyanyembe was reached — on the 
1 8th of February, 1872 — Stanley handed over to the doctor a large 
amount of stores of every description, together with some goods which 
had been sent to Livingstone from England. The latter included four 
flannel shirts from his daughter Agnes, and two pairs of good English 
boots from Horace Waller. These presents were particularly wel- 



332 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY 

come, as the doctor had patched and cobbled his clothes till they would 
hardly hold together. Stanley then hurried to the coast, in order to 
send back a number of trusty men as carriers for the doctor's goods. 
Moreover, he bore the precious journal, which dated from six years 
back, and contained a wealth of information about countries and peo- 
ples hitherto unexplored and unknown. 

When Livingstone shook Stanley's hand for the last time, he was 
parting with the only white man he had seen in the last six years, and 
the last he would see on this earth. The farewell between these two 
men was of a most affecting nature, for both knew of the difficulties 
of the past and the future ; and during the four months in which they 
had lived together in no common degree of familiarity, they had 
regarded each other with the greatest interest : the one, a veteran who 
had borne the burden and heat of the day; the other, a young knight 
who had but just won his golden spurs. Although as unlike as possi- 
ble in character, Stanley was to take up much of the work which the 
doctor left unfinished, and carry it to a successful end. Moreover, he 
was to fill in the public eye as large if not so well-rounded a space ; for 
although Stanley has little of the missionary about him, he has 
achieved such herculean labors in Africa, and has met with such un- 
qualified success, that he may well be regarded' as the greatest traveler 
since Livingstone's time. 

In the meanwhile Livingstone was waiting at Unyanyembe for the 
men Stanley was to send. He employed much of the time in writing 
letters and noting down what he could learn from the Arabs. A few 
days after his parting with Stanley his fifty-ninth birthday occurred, 
and in his journal we find these words : "I again dedicate my whole 
self to Thee. Accept me, and grant, O gracious Father, that ere this 
year is gone I may finish my task. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen; 
so let it be. David Livingstone." 

In May he wrote a letter for the New York Herald, and' it is 
in this letter that we find those word's which have struck every reader 
with their pathetic intenseness, and which may now be seen inscribed 
upon his tomb in Westminster Abbey. Thus they run : "All I can add 
in my loneliness is, may Heaven's rich blessing come down on every 
one — American, English, or Turk — who will help to heal the open sore 



LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY 3 ^ 3 

of the world." He was thinking, as ever, of the gaping wound which 
slavery had made. 

When reflecting in his journal on missions and the necessity for 
liberality of mind and charity, he says: "I have avoided giving 
offence to intelligent Arabs, who having pressed me, asking if I 
believed in Mohammed — by saying, 'No, I do not : I am a child of 
Jesus bin Miriam,' avoiding anything offensive in my tone." 

At last the men whom Stanley had sent off arrived, and they 
proved to be a very good lot. Some had been with Stanley when he 
relieved Livingstone, and others were recruited from the Geographical 
Society's expedition. The doctor started almost immediately — on the 
25th of August — and reached the Tanganyika about six weeks later. 
Following the eastern shores, he rounded the southern point of the lake, 
and in bad health struck south, and then west for Lake Bangweolo. 

The rainy season was upon them. Day after day it rained or 
drizzled or hailed, and the country rapidly underwent a change for 
the worse. Streams became rivers, and rivers mighty and resistless 
torrents. As the mountain slopes of Urungu were left behind, that 
disagreeable feature of African geography to which Livingstone intro- 
duced us — the "sponge" — became frequent. Where terra finna was 
met with, too often it was overlaid with knee-deep water. To make 
matters worse, the natives assumed an unfriendly attitude, and it 
became almost impossible to obtain food. Fever and an aggravated 
form of dysentery laid hold of the doctor's worn-out body, and reduced 
his strength to such an extent that once again he had to be carried 03' 
his men on a kitanda, a light palanquin with a wooden framework. 
They were splashing through the endless sponges round the east end 
of Lake Bangweolo, and pushing forward through innumerable diffi- 
culties. All the symptoms of his illness became more acute, and he 
suffered most excruciating pain. Several times he fainted from loss 
of blood, and a drowsiness seemed to steal over him ever and again. 
The entries in his journal became shorter and shorter, until at last 
only the dates appeared ; he was too weak to write more. Yet we learn 
from Susi and Chuma, his faithful servants, that he frequently asked 
questions of the natives with regard to distant hills, the rivers they 
were crossing, whence they came and whither they flowed. 



334 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY 

On the 27th of April, 1873, he last entry is made in the journal. 
It must have cost a great effort, for all day he had lain in a stupor, 
brought on by intense weakness. These are the last words that he 
wrote : 

"27th April, 1873. Knocked up quite, and remain — recover— 
sent to buy milch goats. We are on the banks of the Molilamo." 

To the last he preserved his habit of faithfully recording the 
geographical features of his position. 

On the following day he was gently lifted off his bed, laid in a 
canoe, and ferried across the river. He was then as gently replaced 
on the kit an da, and borne along. He was now near the village of 
Chitambo, at the southern extremity of Bangweolo, and the men has- 
tened to reach this resting-place. Through dreary stretches of water 
they steadily splashed their way. Whenever a fairly dry patch was 
reached, he begged them to lay him down and let him stay. The brave 
fellows did what they could to encourage him, and on the evening of 
the 29th they reached the village. During the day he had been so 
faint as to be unable to articulate at times. Some of the men had been 
thoughtfully sent on in front to build a hut for him, and shortly after 
arriving the doctor was laid down upon his bed. 

On the following morning the chief, Chitambo, came to call upon 
him, but the doctor was too ill to talk with him. In the afternoon Susi 
placed his watch in the palm of the doctor's hand, and held it there 
while for the last time the key was slowly and with difficulty turned. 
Some hours later, shortly before midnight, he asked Susi, "Is this the 
Luapula ?" His mind was evidently failing. 

An hour later, he asked Susi to bring the medicine chest. Select- 
ing the calomel with great difficulty, he told Susi to pour some water 
into a cup, and then said in a low indistinct voice: 

"All right: you can go out now." 

They were the last words that his fellow-creatures ever heard 
him speak. 

Shortly before dawn on the 1st of May, a lad who slept within the 
hut to attend to his needs awoke Susi, Chuma, and two or three more, 
saying he feared the master was dead. They entered the hut, and by 
the dim light of the candle which was still burning they saw the doctor 



LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY 335 

kneeling on his knees beside the bed, his face resting on both hands, 
and his body leaning against the edge. They gazed in doubt for a few 
moments; but there was no stir, no breathing. One stepped forward 
and laid his hand on the worn and hollow cheek. It was cold. The 
master was indeed dead ! 

While in the act of praying to his God, the heroic soul had passed 
away. We shall never know what prayer he made ; but, knowing the 
set purpose of his life, the great desire with which his whole being 
was possessed, we may well aad with reverence think that in com- 
mitting his spirit into the hands of the God who gave it he did not 
omit to plead for the healing of that great "open sore of the world," 
in probing which he had laid down his life. 

The beauty of his character was not lost on the poor blacks who 
were with him. With a fidelity which is rare in story, and a sense of 
responsibility almost unknown to benighted Africa, his servants pre- 
pared to convey his body and personal effects back to his own people. 
They buried his heart and' internal organs under a tree, and marked 
the grave so that it might be recognized. His body they dried in the 
sun, and embalmed in the best way they could. Wrapping it in calico 
and bark, and covering the. whole with canvas, they set out on their 
long and difficult journey to Zanzibar. Numerous dangers threat- 
ened them, and time and again they were surrounded by hostile bands — 
hostile chiefly through a superstitious fear of the dead. But still they 
persevered ; and, after behaving with a courage and devotion worthy of 
their beloved' master, they at length brought his mortal remains safely 
to the coast, together with the wholt of his personal effects. Nearly 
a year had been occupied by the journey. Not a note or jotting of 
all those last seven years of Livingstone's life was lost, and it is 
entirely owing to Susi and Chuma and their faithful companions that 
this is so. Our debt to these fine fellows no reward could wipe out. 
It is an enduring obligation. 

On the 15th of April, 1874, the body, accompanied by Susi and 
Chuma, arrived in England. It was taken to the rooms of the Geo- 
graphical Society, and there identified — partly by the false joint in the 
upper arm, which had developed when the lion mangled him long years 
before at Mabotsa. 



33 6 LIVINGSTONE'S LAST JOURNEY 

Three days later, among those who had worked with him and 
for him, in the presence of the mighty dead as well as the mighty living, 
he was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. Moffat and Oswell, Steele 
and Webb, Waller and Kirk, Young and Stanley, were there to pay 
a last tribute of affection to their old comrade; and all who were 
present were closely drawn to him through ties of admiration for his 
character and sympathy for his cause. In former years, when he 
returned from Africa, he had received the ringing welcome of a nation. 
Upon that day when he came again for the last time, as he was laid to 
rest in the Abbey, that nation, stricken with grief though hardly yet 
aware of all his greatness, bade him a mute farewell. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 

Stanley's Search for Livingstone 

IT was while resting at Madrid, after the fatigue of campaigning, 
that Henry M. Stanley, a war correspondent, received the now 

historic telegram from James Gordon Bennett who was the son of 
the then proprietor of the New York Herald, and managed the paper 
for his father. On October 16, 1869, he wired to Stanley in these 
words, "Come to Paris on important business," and on the same day 
Stanley left Madrid for Paris — and for the great opportunity of his 
life. Stanley may well be allowed to tell his story in his own words, 
and in his own striking manner. 

On arriving at Paris in the dead of night, "I went," he says, 
"straight to the Grand Hotel and knocked at the door of Mr. Bennett's 
room. 

" 'Come in,' I heard a voice say. Entering I found Mr. Bennett 
in bed. 

" 'Who are you?' he asked. 

" 'My name is Stanley,' I answered. 

" 'Ah, yes ! sit down ; I have important business in hand for you. 
Where do you think Livingstone is ?' 

" T really do not know, sir.' 

" 'Do you think he is alive?' 

" 'He may be, and he may not be,' I answered. 

" 'Well, I think he is alive, and that he can be found, and I am 
going to send you to find him. Of course you will act according to 
your own plans, and do what you think best — but find Living- 
stone!' " 

On Stanley's referring to the great expense of the proposed expedi- 
tion, Bennett replied, — ■ 

"Draw a thousand pounds now, and when you have gone through 
that, draw another thousand, and when that is spent draw another 
thousand, and when you have finished that draw another thousand, 
and so on, but find Livingstone !" 

(337) 



33 8 STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE 

No better man could have been found for the purpose intended 
than Henry M. Stanley. A Welshman by birth, an American by adop- 
tion, he had, in the Civil War, served on both the Confederate and the 
Northern side, and afterwards, as the correspondent of the New York 
Herald, had proved himself one of the most daring and successful of 
travelers. He had gone to Abyssinia during the English war with 
that country, and had won laurels as a war correspondent. 

Before setting out on the expedition with which we are concerned 
he made a long and perilous journey through Turkey, Persia, Afghan- 
istan and' India to Bombay, whence he sailed for Zanzibar, arriving 
there on the 6th of January, 1871. He had with him two men, Farqu- 
har, a Scotch seaman, and Selim, an Arab boy, whom he had engaged 
in Egypt as an interpreter and on whom he afterwards greatly de- 
pended. 

Zanzibar is the gateway of Eastern Africa. Here Stanley 
engaged his carriers and soldiers and purchased his outfit, consisting 
largely of cloth, beads and' brass wire, the money then most current in 
Africa. It embraced also the animals, tents, ammunition, etc., neces- 
sary for the expedition. His comrades, in addition to the two named, 
consisted of John W. Shaw, an English seaman, a number of soldiers 
who had formerly served under Captain Speke, and a large number of 
carriers and negro attendants. 

Other explorers had been in that region before him, and Burton 
and Speke had discovered Lake Tanganyika thirteen years before. 
The Victoria Nyanza had also been discovered, but no one knew what 
connection there might be between these two great lakes, and the vast 
region of Central Africa west of these lakes was utterly unknown. 
Livingstone had traversed it in part, but what he had done was still 
a sealed book. For a number of years he had been lost to sight in the 
heart of Africa, no one knew if he was alive or dead, and interest in 
his fate was so great that there could have been no more important 
mission than that given Stanley to "find Livingstone." 

We cannot describe in detail Stanley's interesting journey. Leav- 
ing Zanzibar on the 5th of February, 1871, he soon plunged into 
savage Africa. His force was divided into five caravans, sent forward 
at intervals of a few days ; the total number of the expedition amounted 
to nearly two hundred men. 



STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE 339 

Day by day the caravans proceeded, marching" a few hours at a 
time, and covering but a few miles in a day. Although the outbreak 
of the rainy season or Masika, as it is called, was expected, the weather 
continued fine. Through a rich and rolling country, extremely fertile, 
producing numberless varieties of grain and fruit; across open plains 
and shallow valleys which were covered' with an exuberant wilderness 
of growth, save in the cultivated neighborhood of villages; through 
glades of mighty trees — the ebony, the calabash, and the mango ; over 
seas of grasses of many kinds, and amid islands of tree-clumps or 
tangled thickets, Stanley's caravans proceeded on their course two or 
three days' march behind' each other. All went well until they came 
in for the first taste of the Masika when encamped at Kingaru. The 
place itself was unhealthy, and when Stanley renewed his march, most 
of his men were enfeebled by ague, fever, or dysentery, and the two 
valuable horses he had were dead. 

On the 8th of April, 1870, between Imbiki and Msuwa, the expe- 
dition had their first experience of jungle. Added to the obstacles 
which "a wall of thorny plants and creepers" bristling on each side 
of a narrow path — but a foot in width — across which projecting 
branches stretched with "knots of spiky twigs stiff as spike-nails, 
ready to catch and hold anything," would naturally present to a train 
of donkeys laden with large bales, there arose from the decayed vege- 
tation around such a breath of miasma, mingled with the poisonous 
stench of the rank undergrowth, that Stanley momentarily expected 
to find himself and his men succumb to an attack of jungle fever. This 
jungle was happily soon left behind', and on the succeeding days the 
road proved excellent. They had now reached an elevated and fertile 
country, where sugar corn, Indian corn and other plants grew luxuri- 
antly and the banana flourished in abundance. 

The expedition reached the country of Useguhha on April 16th, 
and at Muhalleh, the first 'settlement in this country, Stanley met a 
huge Arab caravan on the downward journey to Bagamoyo, from 
Tanganyika, and for the first time had tidings of Livingstone. The 
Arab Sheikh, Salim Bin Rashid, told him that he had actually lived 
for two weeks in a hut next to that in which Livingstone dwelt at 
Ujiji; that the great traveler looked aged and ill, and that his hair 



34o 



STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE 



was nearly white. Such tidings as these were enough to induce Stan- 
ley to strain every nerve to hasten his steps, and we can readily believe 
how exasperating to a man of his personal vigor and promptitude 
were the many delays and obstacles he had to contend with between 
this point and his destination. 

The caravans had been twenty-nine days on the march, and they 
had covered 119 miles since leaving Bagamoyo. When encamped a 
day's march from Simbanwenni, Stanley experienced his first attack 
of the mukunguru or fever of East Africa. He was destined to have 
no less than twenty-three of such attacks before regaining the shores 
of the Indian Ocean. 

The remedy, applied for three mornings in succession after the 
attack, was a quantum of 15 grains of quinine, taken in three doses of 
five grains each, every other hour from dawn to meridian. I may 
add that this treatment was perfectly successful in his case and in all 
others which occurred in the camp. 

Proceeding onwards and ever westward, the party arrived at 
the Makata valley, which the rainy season had converted into a per- 
fect savannah of slush and mire, and through which the carriers, as 
well as the beasts of burden, had' the greatest difficulty in passing. 
Men fell out of the ranks; valuable bales of cloth, cases of powder 
and provisions were again and again, through the carelessness or 
stupidity of the carriers, allowed to get wet — no slight disaster; and 
what with the swollen streams and turgid pools, Stanley, who worked 
with almost superhuman energy, found the greatest difficulty in get- 
ting his caravan through at all. At the rate of less than a mile an 
hour, day after day, it dragged its slow length along, and it was with 
feelings of unusual relief that Stanley, with his men suffering from 
dysentery and other ills contracted from the long march through forty 
miles of water, sometimes four feet in depth, arrived on the 4th of 
May at Rehenneko and encamped on the hilly slopes of the Usagara 
country. 

On May 22d two Arabs traveling west joined their caravans to 
Stanley's, and, leaving the uplands behind, together they crossed the 
absolutely waterless and shadeless desert plain of Marenga Mkali. 
This wilderness passed, they found themselves in Ugogo, amid fields of 



STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE 341 

matama and grain, and herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. Crowds of 
men, women and children came together to see the Musungu (white 
men), who were subjected to the minutest examination, regardless of 
any personal feelings they may have had on the subject. But in face 
of the plentiful supplies which came pouring in, in exchange for doti 
of cloth and' necklaces of beads, such excessive interest in their per- 
sons did not affect the Musungu. Indian corn, matama, honey, ghee 
(butter), beans, peanuts, watermelons, pumpkins and cucumbers, to- 
gether with milk, were among the supplies which the country afforded ; 
and what was of still greater satisfaction to the purchasers, the people 
themselves were easily satisfied as to the price. Far different was it 
with the Wagogo chiefs. The extortionate demands of Shylock paled 
before those which the chiefs of the many villages, through which the 
expedition passed, required Stanley to pay as tribute. 

The expedition was now marching in a northwesterly direction, 
right on Unyanyembe. Marching as rapidly as possible, by June 27, 
Stanley sighted the suburbs of Tabora, and with guns firing, flags 
flying, and the soldiers and carriers dressed in their bravest loin- 
cloths, on the same day he made his entry, and the long march of the 
carriers hired at Bagamoyo came to an end. 

Unyanyembe is the central district of the great country Uny- 
amwezi, the most important and fertile country in the whole of that 
part of Central and Eastern Africa. It is a vast table-land, sloping 
in gentle undulations towards Lake Tanganyika, into which the coun- 
try chiefly drains. The mountainous character of Usagara is wanting, 
as well as the fertile plains of Ugogo; but in their place league upon 
league of purple forests roll away into the hazy distance, and wide 
stretches of pasture, on which ten thousand flocks are grazing, sep- 
arate these forest belts. A dozen powerful states are contained within 
this region, and the supremacy is continually passing from one state 
to another. The people of this great country, the Wanyamwezi, carry 
off the palm among the people of Central Africa. They are well 
developed and intelligent, enterprising and industrious, good traders 
and travelers. They are the inter-tribal porters of the continent, the 
prop of the Arab caravans, the reliance of the white man. 

Tabora, which is situated' in the midst of an extremelv fertile 



342 STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE 

plain, contains over a thousand tembes and huts, and boasts of a large 
population. It was here that Speke and Burton dwelt for months 
together, and afterwards both Speke and Grant. The luxuries of 
Arabia, Egypt and' Zanzibar are to be found in the Arabs' tembes, 
which are large and handsome. These Arabs, who are nearly all rich 
men, have imported everything they could need for an easy and lux- 
urious life. Persian carpets, silver coffee services, wines and spices, 
and last, but not least, extensive harems. They own large flocks and 
herds, and numerous slaves, for household as well as trading purposes.. 
In his intercourse with the Arabs, Stanley found the services of Selim, 
his interpreter, invaluable. 

At Tabora Stanley not only found his first, second and fourth 
caravans, which he had despatched previously to his departure from 
Bagamoyo, but also fell in with the caravan which Sir John Kirk, 
British Consul at Zanzibar, had sent off, many months before, to 
relieve Livingstone. When Stanley first landed at Bagamoyo, he had 
found this caravan idling there, having been a hundred days searching 
for the few pagazis required to carry the bales and goods destined 
for Livingstone. Since the middle of May it had been ingloriously 
resting at Tabora. Stanley secured the letters for Livingstone, which 
the chief of the caravan had, and made it his business to look after 
the goods. To this consideration on his part it is probably owing that 
Livingstone ever received' them at all. 

On the 20th of September the expedition set out, this time in 
much reduced numbers. For the road was eminently dangerous, and 
Stanley was determined not to be saddled with inefficient followers, 
or a superfluity of baggage. The march to Ujiji was to be the work 
of a "flying column," the impedimenta or the useless were to be left, 
in more or less clover, at Unyanyembe. This was the program, though 
it was with a doubtful heart that Stanley — worn to a shadow almost 
by constantly recurring fevers — turned his steps towards the shores 
of the Tanganyika. 

On the 3d of November, while encamped on the banks of the 
Malagarazi, Stanley learned from the leaders of a caravan that a 
white man, "old, with white hair on his face, and ill," had recently 
arrived at Ujiji from Manyema, and that they had seen him as lately 



STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE 343 

as eight days before. This could only be Livingstone, for Baker, the 
only other white man known to be in the interior, was comparatively 
young, and consequently would not be gray-haired. By dint of large 
bribes, Stanley aroused his men to something like excitement and 
energy, and pressing forward as speedily as possible, paying large 
tribute at every town, if only so as not to lose time, resisted continually 
by the savage chieftains of the country, crossing quagmires and 
streams, and, as the main track was infested by bands of warriors on 
the warpath, plunging into jungle depths and the wildest parts of a 
tropical wilderness, on November 10, the two hundred and thirty-sixth 
day from Bagamoyo, at the head of his men, he surmounted a steep 
and lofty ridge, and beheld the Tanganyika and Ujiji at his feet. 

His faithful Wangwana pressed forward and gave vent to their 
feelings in the most boisterous and characteristic fashion. There, in 
front of them, lay the goal to which, through all their toil and pri- 
vation, they had ever been pressing nearer. The days of trouble were 
over, the hour of triumph had arrived. 

With his heart beating high with excitement, Stanley marshalled 
his caravan in order, and then with horns blowing, guns firing and 
flags flying, they descended the hill towards Ujiji. The people came 
out in crowds to meet them, and in the midst of the uproar, Stanley 
was accosted by Susi, the servant of Dr. Livingstone, who, in good 
English, told him that the Doctor was indeed alive, though poor in 
health. 

The news had quickly spread that a white man was coming, and 
all the chief Arabs had gathered in front of the Doctor's house, there 
to await the new arrival. For the rest — is it not a matter of history 
and engraved in the hearts of thousands, to whom the story of the 
great traveler and missionary has been as an epic? But let Stanley 
tell his own tale once more. 

"I pushed back the crowds, and passing from the rear, walked 
down a living avenue of people, until I came in front of the semi-circle 
of Arabs, in front of which stood the white man with the gray beard. 
As I advanced slowly towards him, I noticed' he was pale, looked 
wearied, had a gray beard, wore a bluish cap, with a faded gold band 
round it, had on a red-sleeved waist-coat, and a pair of gray tweed 



3 44 STANLEY'S SEARCH FOR LIVINGSTONE 

trousers; I would have run to him, only I was a coward in the pres- 
ence of such a mob — would have embraced him, only, he being an 
Englishman, I did not know how he would receive me; so I did what 
cowardice and false pride suggested was the best thing — walked 
deliberately to him, took off my hat, and said: 

" 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume?' 

" 'Yes/ said he, with a kind smile, lifting his cap slightly. 

" 'I replace my hat on my head, and he puts on his cap, and we 
both grasp hands, and then I say aloud : 

" 'I thank God, Doctor, I have been permitted, to see you.' " 

We have already given some idea of the intercourse of these two 
great travelers and need only to say further that Livingstone accom- 
panied Stanley to Unyanyembe, where they bade each other a final 
"good-bye." The parting of the two men was extremely affecting, 
and Stanley, who had conceived the very highest opinion of Dr. Liv- 
ingstone during four months' intercourse, has given us a vivid de- 
scription of it — only a portion of which we can quote: 

"We walked side by side; the men lifted their voices in a song. 
I took long looks at Livingstone, to impress his features thoroughly 
on my memory. 

" 'The thing is, Doctor, so far as I can understand, you do not 
intend to return home until you have satisfied yourself about the 
'Sources of the Nile.' When you have satisfied yourself, you will 
come home and satisfy others. Is it not so?' 

" 'That is it, exactly.' 

" 'Now, my dear Doctor, the best friends must part. You have 
come far enough; let me beg of you to turn back.' 

" 'Well, I will say this to you: you have done what few men could 
do — far better than some great travelers I know. And I am grateful 
to you for what you have done for me. God guide you safe home and 
bless you, my friend.' 

" 'And may God bring you safe back to us all, my dear friend. 
Farewell.' 

" 'Farewell.' 

"We wrung each other's hands, and I had to tear myself away 
before I unmanned myself; but Susi and Chumah and' Hamoydah — 




.,, ^ 






Iteu- 




L 




STANLEY'S SEARCH EOR LIVINGSTONE 



345 



the Doctor's faithful fellows — they must all shake and kiss my hands 
before I could quite turn away." 

The homeward journey followed much the same line of country 
as the outward, and at sunset on the 6th of May, the Herald Expedi- 
tion entered Bagamoyo, having marched five hundred and twenty-five 
miles in thirty-five days, through howling tempests and inundated 
plains — struggling, wading and swimming, and all but succumbing. 
The end was at length reached — the double journey completed 
Stanley entered the town with the tattered stars and stripes of his 
adopted country flying before him; with his men wrought up to a 
state of excitement hardly short of madness, discharging their guns 
and yelling like a company of fiends — with the marks upon every 
single individual of illness, famine and toil — a sorry-looking crew — 
but for all that with the eyes of an admiring world upon them. Men 
whom Stanley had known in Zanzibar failed to recognize him now — 
he was so aged and his hair had become so gray. None, however, 
withheld the hand of congratulation and applause which the reliever 
of Livingstone had so well earned. None thought of aught but to do 
honor to him to whom honor was most justly due. Livingstone was 
alive, and able to go on with his great work; his journals had been 
brought safely from out of the darkness of the continent, and the 
records of his labors preserved ; the New York Herald Expedition had 
fulfilled its purpose and more than justified its existence — for Stanley 
had succeeded! 



CHAPTER XXXVII 

Stanley's Journey Through Africa 

THE death of Livingstone, the faithfulness of his African ser- 
vants in carrying his mortal remains across hundreds of miles 
of the savage interior to the sea-coast, and the subsequent 
solemn interment at Westminster Abbey, roused public interest in 
Africa and its still undiscovered regions to the pitch of fever heat. 
Never had such an outburst of missionary zeal been known, never did 
the cause of geographical exploration receive such an impetus. Small 
wonder was it that Stanley, who helped to carry the remains of David 
Livingstone to their last resting place, registered a vow to unravel the 
mysteries of the Lualaba River, and clear up the doubts which existed 
as to the number, position, and extent of the great lakes ; small wonder 
was it that those who should bear the expense of an undertaking of 
such magnitude came forward without delay. 

Stanley had meanwhile accompanied the British arms into Ash- 
anti, a country on the gold coast of western Africa, and served the 
New York Herald with signal efficiency as war correspondent in the 
defeat of the King, Coffee Calcali, and the capture of his capital city, 
Coomassie. Pie was now ready to renew his explorations of central 
Africa. 

As with the first, so with his second expedition into Africa, news- 
paper enterprise and munificence supplied the "sinews of war," the 
indispensable financial support. At the invitation of the proprietors of 
the Daily Telegraph, Mr. Bennett of the New York Herald consented 
to share with the great English "Daily" the expenses of an expedition 
into Central Africa. Stanley was to be in command, and his com- 
mission was sufficiently ample for a man of even his calibre. He was 
to clear up all uncertainties about the lake region, to follow the course 
of Livingstone's Lualaba wheresoever it might lead, and to investigate 
the slave trade, tracing its sphere and influence throughout Central 
Africa. He was moreover to represent the two great English-speak- 

(346) 



STANLEY'S JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA 347 

ing nations in a befitting manner, no expense or care being spared to 
make the expedition one of lasting advantage to science, humanity 
and civilization. In a word Stanley was to seek to complete the great 
work which Livingstone, Burton, Speke and Grant had begun. 

Of this expedition, which lasted for three years, during most of 
which time Stanley was lost to sight in Central Africa, we can deal 
here only with its most signal portion, that in which the explorer took 
up the work of Livingstone on the Lualaba and carried on to com- 
pletion, in tracing the course of that great and lnysterious river to its 
outlet in the ocean of the remainder of his work, that having to do 
with his exploration of the great African lakes, this, though replete 
with interest, can only be dealt with here in rapid abstract. 

His first important achievement, after a journey in which he 
had to fight his way through an army of savages, was the circumnavi- 
gation of the Victoria Nyanza, which he accomplished by the aid of 
a boat brought for the purpose. In this he had many adventures, and 
at times had to fight his way through hordes of savage boatmen. 
Finally, landing on the coast of Uganda, his troubles came to an end, 
Mtesa, the king of that semi-civilized country, receiving him with the 
most cordial hospitality. In his intercourse with this friendly African 
monarch, Stanley laid the foundations of the later Christian work in 
that country, by converting Mtesa from Islamism to Christianity. 

Stanley's work on the Victoria Nyanza was to fix its area at 
twenty-one thousand square miles and prove that its sole outlet was 
over the Ripon Falls. The hostility of the natives prevented him from 
investigating the other lakes of that vicinity, and after a study of the 
Alexandra Nile, which he found to be the principal feeder of the Vic- 
toria Lake, he made his way to Lake Tanganyika, reaching Ujiji May 
27, 1876, nearly two years after his original outset. This lake he 
also circumnavigated and studied, and finally, near the end' of August, 
he began his journey to the Lualaba, intending to take up the work 
exactly where Livingstone had laid it down. 

As he advanced, with an enfeebled body of men — for fever and 
small-pox had played havoc with those left at Ujiji — the vegetation 
increased in luxuriance and the country in beauty. The wooded hills 
and forested plains were filled with animal life and everywhere the 



34 8 " : STANLEY'S JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA 

villages betokened the presence of plenty. But Stanley kept his force 
together with the greatest difficulty, for the people of Manyema, the 
country through which they were passing, were reported to be can- 
nibals, and the feelings of the Wangwana were thereby considerably 
exercised. Though Stanley had distributed £350 in presents to the 
people before leaving Ujiji — as a "refresher" to their drooping spirits 
— yet many desertions took place, and for a time the expedition was 
in a high state of demoralization. Nothing but firm treatment suf- 
ficed at such a crisis' as this, and it was fortunate for Stanley that his 
indomitable character enabled him to grapple with the spirit of mutiny 
in a masterful way. 

For more than two hundred miles the route lay along the valley 
of the Luama — a tributary of the Lualaba — and, at its confluence with 
the great river upon which Livingstone had spent so much time, 
thought and labor, Stanley realized that at last he was face to face 
with a simple problem — he was to follow the river to the ocean, and 
prove or disprove once and forever its identity with the Nile. He was 
to follow it into countries of which even the natives could give no 
account, deal with peoples whose very name was unknown, and finally 
trace it to an end no man could indicate. 

At Mwana Mamba he met the Arab with whom he was to be 
afterwards — on this and other expeditions — so closely connected, 
Hamed Bin Mohammed, alias Tippu Tib, a man of remarkable char- 
acter and of the greatest influence over the Arabs of that region. 

The most terrible tales were told by the Arabs of the savages 
dwelling on the banks of the Lualaba. Dwarfs who shot with poisoned 
arrows, cannibals who regarded the stranger as so much meat, bar- 
barians who wore no clothing and killed all men they met — these 
were some of the people to be met on the river, which in itself pre- 
sented great difficulties. There were many falls and many rocks ; and 
the river flowed northward for ever and knew no end. In the face of 
such testimony from men who had traveled for some distance down 
the river, Stanley's intention never swerved; he was determined to 
follow the Lualaba to the sea. 

To help him attain this end, and to inspire his trembling followers 
with courage, Stanley engaged the services of Tippu Tib, who, in 



STANLEY'S JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA 349 

return for £1,000 and rations for his escort, was to bring to Stanley's 
aid his own personal efforts and influence, assisted by a considerable 
force of men — about one hundred and fifty of whom were armed with 
rifles. 

On the 5th of November, 1876, the Anglo-American Expedition 
left Nyangwe — the outpost, as it were, of the Arab traders of the 
lake districts — and proceeded on its arduous journey down the Lua- 
laba. As the name soon disappeared, and the river was rebaptized 
every few miles by the natives, Stanley gave it the name of Living- 
stone — after him who had given his life for a knowledge of it — and 
by this name it will hereinafter be mentioned. 

For the first ten days the march along the bank led through a 
dense forest growth; so dense that often the travelers could not say 
if the sun were shining or the sky overcast. Dew fell from the leafage 
overhead in drops of rain; the narrow track became a ditch of wet 
mud ; the air reeked with the poisonous fumes of fungi and the deadly 
breath of miasma. At times progress became so difficult that a whole 
day's march advanced them but six miles. The men were rapidly 
succumbing to weariness and sickness, and the Arabs in Tippu Tib's 
train clamored loudly for retreat. Even Tippu Tib himself came to 
Stanley and declared his unwillingness to proceed ; although by doing 
so he forfeited his claim to the £1,000. Stanley was desperate. If he 
attempted to march without the great Arab, he knew that his expedi- 
tion would be no more; that the Wangwana would desert to a man. 
By dint of argument, however, and the sum of £500, he induced Tippu 
to accompany him twenty marches further, at the end of which Stanley 
hoped he would be able to obtain canoes for the whole of his expedi- 
tion and take to the river for the rest of the journey. 

At Ukassa, rapids were encountered for the first time, and as the 
river suddenly narrowed at this point, dangerous eddies and whirls 
made progress slow and cautious. All this while the main body was 
marching with Tippu Tib and his followers, along the left bank, and 
Stanley, with some thirty companions, navigated' the river in the boat. 

On reaching Ikondu, one of the much-talked-of dwarfs was 
caught and brought into camp. A little over four feet in height, 
diminutive in proportions, and altogether puny in appearance, he did 



35o STANLEY'S JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA 

not seem to represent a very formidable race. But these dwarfs are 
very nimble, and the arrows they shoot are invariably poisoned. Soon 
after, when the boat party was encamped on the bank, awaiting the 
arrival of the column marching by land, hundreds of wild savages 
attacked them, blowing their war-horns, and yelling their war-cries, 
and shooting clouds of poisoned arrows. All that day and through the 
greater part of the night the contest went on. Early next morning the 
fight was renewed, and continued with few interruptions till night. 
On the following day, reinforced by about a thousand neighbors in 
canoes, the savages attacked again, and this time with desperate fury. 
From the forest on the one side and the river on the other they came in 
vast numbers, showering their arrows on the gallant little band. In 
the midst of the battle, the advance guard of the land column made 
its appearance, and at the sight of the reinforcements the natives 
retreated. During the night, which was dark and stormy, Stanley 
crossed the river to the island whither those who attacked in canoes 
had retired, and under cover of darkness cut the canoes adrift and 
floated them down the river to his camp. Being now in a position to 
make his own terms, he rowed to the island on the following morning, 
and offered the surprised owners fifteen of their canoes if they would 
make peace. This they consented to do — Stanley reserving twenty- 
three for conveying his expedition down the river. 

But the Arabs had had enough of this wild country, and its 
turbulent people, and Tippu Tib declared that he and his men would 
not go one step further to what they knew to be certain destruction. 
Only twelve of the stipulated twenty marches had been performed, 
but Stanley saw that the time had come for the final parting, and 
accordingly released Tippu Tib from his agreement — rewarding him 
with a draft for about £500, together with numerous presents for 
himself and his chief people. Through the fidelity and courage of 
some of the Wangwana, Stanley was able to arouse the enthusiasm of 
his own band in the coming voyage down the river, and with such 
good effect that, in finally leaving Tippu Tib and his camp behind, not 
one of the expedition had deserted. 

On the following day the little flotilla was attacked from both 
banks at once. Hundreds of savages with gaily feathered heads and 



STANLEY'S JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA 35 i 

painted faces dashed' out at them, shooting their spears and shouting 
"Meat! Meat! Ah! Ha! We shall have plenty of meat!" But they 
were to be defrauded of the expected feast, for the well-aimed rifles of 
the Wangwana soon struck terror into their midst, and compelled 
them to seek the cover of the shore, and their meat in more legitimate 
quarters. 

Again and again, as the expedition floated down the river, some 
twenty or thirty canoes would shoot out from the shore, despite the 
long-drawn cries of "Sennenneh — Sen-nen-neh" (Peace, peace), 
which the interpreter of the party would raise ; the cannibals ignored 
everything but the advent of so much food to their market ! "We shall 
eat meat to-day. Oho! We shall eat meat." 

The 6th of January, 1877, found the little band of daring spirits 
at the first cataract of the Stanley Falls. From this point for about 
sixty miles the great volume of the Livingstone rushes through nar- 
rowed and lofty banks, in a series of rapids interspersed with steep 
falls. Nearly the whole of the distance is impracticable for boats, and 
Stanley had to force his way along the bank, through jungle and 
forest and over cliffs and rocks, blazing a path through dense wood, 
and clambering over rugged and precipitous banks. The whole of the 
distance he was exposed to the murderous attacks of cannibal savages 
who, while the boat and canoes were transported, the necessary roads 
cut, and the camps made, never relaxed their efforts to exterminate 
the party. By the 28th of the month the seventh cataract was cleared, 
and once more the expedition was enabled to resume its voyage down 
stream. 

The river, broadening out, now flowed on in a distinct westerly 
course, and this, coupled with the temporary cessation of hostilities, 
raised the wearied spirits and put strength into the weakened bodies 
of the party in a wonderful degree. For not long, however, were they 
to have peace, and in a few days they were passing through a running 
fire from either bank. Day after day, as they dropped down stream, 
new tribes appeared, but ever in the old garb of enemies. Gradually 
the river widened to about 4,000 yards, islands became more numer- 
ous, and the banks rose on either hand high and steep. But an eternal 
forest dwelt on the islands, the banks, and the interior, and the onlv 



352 STANLEY'S JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA 

clear spaces here and there were occupied by villages or used as 
market places by the tiibes of this fluvial region. Noble tributaries, 
from a furlong to a mile in width, occasionally swelled the ever- 
increasing river, and revealed by their magnitude the great extent of 
country drained by the many waters of the Livingstone. 

Off the mouth of the Aruwimi, which is an important tributary 
to the great river on the right, bank, and more than a mile wide at its 
confluence, a determined attack was made upon the travelers by about 
2,000 savages. They had the largest canoes yet met with — some con- 
taining more than 100 men — and rushed to the fray, with all the 
"pomp and panoply of war" which presumptuous ignorance and over- 
weening pride in superior numbers led them to assume. Stanley 
coolly anchored his little fleet in mid-stream, and received them with 
such a succession of well-directed volleys that, in a comparatively short 
time, the heroes who had stalked to war sneaked gladly home. Thus 
ended the twenty-eighth pitched battle the unfortunate little fleet had 
been compelled to light — harassing work indeed' for strangers in a 
strange land. Truly might they be called Ishmaelites, for everyone's 
hand was against them, and theirs, perforce, against everyone. 

A hundred miles or so west of the Aruwimi the Livingstone 
reaches its most northerly point, and amid a perfect maze of islands 
the canoes, with the "Lady Alice" ever at their head, threaded their 
course in a southwesterly direction. A greater danger now lay in their 
path, for, for the first time, their opponents were armed with gun's 
brought up from the coast by native traders. When off the country of 
Bangala no less than sixty canoes, rilled with men armed with fire- 
arms, attacked Stanley's party; and with the overpowering odds of 
over three hundred guns to forty-four — now the full strength of the 
expedition. Fortunately for Stanley, both his ammunition and weap- 
ons were of a better stamp. For nearly five hours the conflict waged, 
and then victory rested, as it had so many times before, with the ever- 
victorious expedition. 

On the 9th of March, when encamped on the left bank for break- 
fast, a sudden attack made by natives, armed with guns, ended in 
another victory for Stanley, although it left him with fourteen men 
wounded. This was the thirty-second fight forced on him by the 



STANLEY'S JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA 



353 



savages he had encountered since leaving Nyangwe, and it proved to 
be the last. Three days later the wearied voyagers entered a wide 
basin, surrounded by lofty cliffs, white and gleaming, on the flat top 
of which grew green and succulent grass. Having an area of more 
than thirty square miles, the basin seemed to the eyes which had grown 
accustomed to the river — wide though it was, nearly five miles in 
places — just like a vast pool — and at Frank Pocock's suggestion it 
was named Stanley Pool, and the lofty white cliffs Dover Cliffs. Pass- 
ing out of the pool, the roar of a great cataract burst upon their ears. 
This was the first of a long series of falls and rapids which were to 
continue until they reached Boma — a distance of 155 miles — in the 
course of which there were no less than thirty-two falls, and an 
average declination of the river of about seven feet per mile. Stanley 
gave to this enormous stretch of cataracts and rapids the name of 
"Livingstone Falls." The difficulties presented by man had, to a great 
extent, passed away, only to reveal obstacles offered by nature — 
obstacles, indeed, which were to deal a severer blow to Stanley and the 
expedition than had all the cunning and violence of those savages who 
regarded their fellow-creatures as so much prey. 

At the Isangila Cataract — where the already explored "Congo" 
began — Stanley left the river, which had been so fraught with adven- 
ture, privation, and sorrow, and started on a direct line across country 
to Boma — the nearest European settlement, and about 60 miles distant. 
The long line straggled' on, weary and footsore, faint from insufficient 
food — for a few banan»as and ground nuts were all they could pro- 
cure — and silent from suffering. When half the distance had been 
traversed, and no food was forthcoming, Stanley wrote a letter of 
earnest appeal to any Europeans who might be at Boma, and sent this 
letter by his ever faithful and willing coxswain ; Uledi. A most gen- 
erous and timely response was made by two gentlemen who repre- 
sented an English firm there, and just as the poor wretched' Zanzibaris 
were lying down by the roadside, gaunt with starvation and resigned 
to fate, the welcome appearance of Uledi at the head of a caravan of 
goodly supplies brought new life back to the weary souls, and supplied 
the sinews for the continuance of the journey. 

On August 9, 1877, the more than decimated expedition marched 



354 STANLEY'S JOURNEY THROUGH AFRICA 

into Boma, 999 days after leaving Zanzibar, having traveled over 
7,000 miles in that time. The reception accorded to Stanley partook 
of the nature of a triumph, and the first few days at Boma were given 
up to that delicious rest and oblivion of danger from which he had so 
long been an exile. 

It would take many words to describe the joy and emotion, the 
surprise and admiration, with which the prowess of Stanley and the 
deeds of the Anglo-American Expedition were regarded. The feel- 
ings of all who took part may be very much more easily imagined than 
described. The "good master" had not only performed what he had 
set out to do, not only crossed those distant lakes even to the great Salt 
Sea beyond, but brought back his faithful Wangwana to their own 
homes at Zanzibar, there to reward them with his own hand, and see 
them with his own eyes at rest at last. 

The price paid for this success was great. His white companions 
had all died, and with them in their deaths were no fewer than 170 
natives. The financial cost was enormous. But the aim and end of 
the Anglo-American Expedition had been achieved, the great geo- 
graphical problems of the dark continent solved, and' Stanley had per- 
formed the task allotted to him, with a success so brilliant as to make 
him the cynosure of the admiring eyes of two hemispheres. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII 

Stanley's Great Congo Expedition 

STANLEY returned to Europe, but not, as he had anticipated, to 
his well-earned rest. On arriving at Marseilles, in his journey 
across Europe, he was met by representatives of Leopold II, 
King of the Belgians, who informed him that their sovereign contem- 
plated some great undertaking in Africa, and that he looked to Stanley 
for assistance in prosecuting it with success. 

This was in January, 1878, but it was not till the end of the year 
that the project took final shape and Stanley prepared to revisit Africa. 
In the meanwhile he was occupied by lecturing to great audiences, by 
a voluminous correspondence, and a careful study of the details of the 
proposed expedition. In June he published the account of his journey 
across Africa under the title of "Across the Dark Continent." The 
book had an immense sale, and gave an impetus to African projects 
which resulted in numerous undertakings. On the river Congo, lakes 
Victoria and Tanganyika, in West, East, and Central Africa, missions 
were established by several denominations; French, Portuguese, and 
German travelers set out to explore vast regions of the Continent ; and 
there began a series of annexations by the European powers which 
have continued up to the present time. 

In November, 1878, at the palace of the Belgian King, an associa- 
tion was formed for the purpose of utilizing the vast basin of the Congo 
for the benefit of the vaster world, and developing its natural wealth 
simultaneously with civilizing its people. Representatives of most of 
the European States were among the prominent members of this novel 
company, and it finally received the title of "The International Associ- 
ation of the Congo." To Stanley was offered the all-important post 
of chief of the expedition which was to initiate the work — an offer 
which recruited health and his characteristic enterprise led him to 
accept with hearty promptness. 

The exact nature of the work before him may be considered under 

(355) 



356 



STANLEY'S GREAT CONGO EXPEDITION 



three heads — philanthropic, scientific, and commercial. Philanthropy 
was to be represented by urgent attempts to bring the savage tribes 
infesting the upper reaches of the Congo to something like a reason- 
able toleration of the white man and the stranger. They were to be 




SHOOTING THE RAPIDS ON THE LOWER CONGO 



shown the benefits of peace and trade, and the advantages accruing to 
them by intercourse with the civilized world. Above all, they were to 
be secured from the horrors of the slave trade. Science was to be 
served by the contemplated surveys of the basin of the river which 
would reveal the physical geography and natural facilities and produc- 
tions of the region. And, lastly, the work of the Association was to 
advance commerce, to provide an outlet for the great wealth of the 



STANLEY'S GREAT CONGO EXPEDITION 



35/ 



interior ; an opening for the manufactures of Europe. By the medium 
of roads, rivers and bridges, by the founding of settlements and the 
cultivation of land, by the pacification of hostile tribes and the estab- 
lishment of a secure main route, by means of the exchange of goods 
and other commercial methods, the Association was to achieve the 
gradual civilization of the Congo tribes and the opening of a vast field 
for the commercial energies of the world'. 

Proceeding first to Zanzibar, in the spring of 1879, Stanley 
engaged the services of about seventy Wangwana, most of whom 
were veterans who had crossed Africa with him. They were now to 
aid him in founding a state on the great river they had helped him to 
discover. Banana Point, at the mouth of the Congo, was reached on 
August 14th, from which point the expedition proceeded up the stream 
to Wood Point, thirty-four miles inland, where navigation for sea- 
going vessels ends. A few miles farther up begin the rapidc, down 
which for fifty-two miles the river rushes from the plateau of interior 
Africa. 

Here the expedition met with its first great labor. A road fifty 
miles long needed to be made to the upper level for the transport of 
the great supply of material of every kind which had been brought, 
including a number of steamers for navigation of the interior waters, 
portable wooden houses, and minor goods innumerable. A huge moun- 
tain mass stood in the way, and the roadway had here to be made by 
blasting the cliffs, a few feet above the surging rapids. The work 
to be done with the small force at command was so great that it took a 
year to complete it, during which six of the whites of the expedition 
died and thirteen retired invalided. Even many of the natives suc- 
cumbed to the heat of the Congo canyon. But Stanley held his own 
and by May 1, 1880, the fifty tons of baggage brought had been 
transported over the well-built road to Manyanga, two hundred and 
fifty miles above the river's mouth. 

At Manyanga, ninety miles above the lower rapids, the Upper 
Livingstone Rapids were reached and a new road had to be built to 
Stanley Pool, where the station of Leopoldville was built. Here 
begins the Upper Congo, which is navigable for the enormous distance 
of one thousand miles, forming a grand highway for commerce into 



358 STANLEY'S GREAT CONGO EXPEDITION 

the heart of Africa. At Stanley Falls, at the head of this navigable 
stretch, broken water begins again and continues for nearly four hun- 
dred miles. But navigation is not confined to the Congo, but extends 
over many of its great affluents. The Kwa — into which flows the 
noble Kasai — the Ruki, and the Lulongo, on the south, and the 
Mobangi, the Itimbiri, and the Aruwimi, on the north — these streams 
furnish a vast stretch of navigable waters, which have since been 
utilized. 

After a visit to Europe, Stanley returned with fourteen European 
officers and some six hundred tons of material, reaching Leopoldville 
on March 21, 1883, with these abundant supplies. On May 9th he 
set out for a vovage of exploration on the Upper Congo, with two 
steamers and a launch, having a whale boat and a canoe in tow. The 
force amounted in all to eighty men, the cargo to six tons. To quote 
Stanley himself: — 

''We have axes to hew the forests, hammers to break the rock, 
spades to turn up the sod and to drain the marsh, or shovels to raise 
the rampart; scythes to mow the grass, hatchets to penetrate the 
jungle, and seeds of all kinds for sowing. Saws to rip planking, and 
hammers, nails, and cabinet-makers' tools to make furniture; needles 
and threads for sewing all the cloth in these bales, twine to string 
their beads, and besides these useful articles in the cases, there are 
also countless 'notions' and fancy knick-knacks to appease the cupidity 
of the most powerful chief, or excite the desire for adornment in the 
breast of woman." 

The power by which the steamers were driven provided' an inex- 
haustible source of speculation for the natives. The less philosophical 
supposed that a number of men were concealed in the hold, but the 
more astute rightly put it down to the "big pot," as they called the 
boiler. But even these could not conjecture the thing that the engineer 
was always "cooking!" "Whatever it is," said they, "it takes a long 
time to cook. That engineer has been cooking all day, and it is not 
finished yet." Finally they fell back upon that invariable dernier res- 
sort of the African — "It is the white man's medicine!" 

The furious opposition which he had met in his former descent 
of the river was now gone, and Stanley filled the role of a peace-maker 



STANLEY'S GREAT CONGO EXPEDITION 359 

by inducing some of the warring natives to conclude a treaty of peace. 
With many of the chiefs he went through the ceremony of blood- 
brotherhood, even doing this with the chiefs of the Bangalas, who had 
fought him furiously during his descent of the Congo in 1877. Iboko, 
the country of these people, was one of the largest and most powerful 
on the river. 

As the little fleet of steamers puffed its way higher and higher 
up the mighty river, richer and richer grew the land. The soil was 
black with vegetable matter, and its fertility was extreme. Miles and 
miles of forest trees of great value lined the banks on either hand; 
gum copal trees covered with the parasitic orchilla — containing the 
germs of large fortunes — were seen for hours together. The many 
islands in mid-stream continually assumed new shapes, but their 
exuberance of vegetation was an enduring feature. The land was a 
land of plenty. 

Passing slowly up river, exploring all important tributaries for 
a considerable distance, undergoing the ceremony of "blood brother- 
hood" countless times, making treaties with the great chiefs, this mis- 
sion of commerce and civilization at length arrived at the foot of the 
seventh and last cataract of Stanley Falls. This was the destination 
of the expedition — the Ultima Thule of Stanley's ''state building" on 
the Congo. The people who inhabited the islands and the mainland 
west of the falls are the Wenyas, who are great fishermen and dex- 
terous boatmen. With these Stanley opened a "shauri" for the pur- 
chase of land on which to found a permanent settlement. After a 
great deal of agitation on the part of the natives, to whom the idea 
was entirely novel, and prolific outbursts of native oratory in many 
phases — fearful, cautious, prophetic, indignant, abusive, shrewd, phil- 
osophic, pacific, and finally friendly — Stanley bought for £160 worth 
of beads, knives, cloth, wire, looking-glasses, caps, brass rods, and 
other forms of an extensive currency, a considerable portion of a large 
island for founding his settlement. The station was situated just 
below the rapids, and possessed in a creek on the east side of the island 
an excellent harbor. The powerful tribe of the Bakuma dwell in the 
country east of the seventh fall, and of them Stanley made most cor- 
dial friends. With both the Wenvas and the Bakumas he concluded 



3§o STANLEY'S GREAT CONGO EXPEDITION 

treaties, insuring his people safe and permanent dwelling among them, 
and stipulated for a civilized method of conducting commerce, and the 
sovereignty of the powers of umpire in all matters of doubt or diffi- 
culty. 

He then set his men to build a strong house, which was plentifully 
stored with provisions, tools, ammunition, cloth, beads, cowries, etc. ; 
and gave the charge of the station to a Scotchman named Binnie, — a 
man of small physique, but with a lion's heart, — entrusting thirty-one 
armed men to his command. On the ioth of December, 1883, Stanley 
turned his back upon the falls, and began to descend the river. The 
little Scotchman was alone in the heart of Africa ! It should be added 
here that he behaved splendidly, and in a very short time won the 
affection, as well as the respect, of the neighboring tribes. 

Stanley's work was almost done. From point to point, along the 
river, he had placed stations, and obtained treaties which gave the 
Association sovereign rights. When the success of these stations had 
encouraged the natives, little difficulty would be experienced in filling 
up the gaps. The pioneering was accomplished, the seeds of federation 
were sown ; and time, and time only, could combine the scattered links, 
and weld them into an unbroken chain. All the Congo tribes knew 
and honored "Bula Matari ;" and nearly all had covenanted with him 
to keep the peace and advance his aims. The whole region had been 
touched by a master's hand, and quickened into vitality. The tribes 
of the Congo were ready for the final step — the confederation of their 
units into an undivided whole, ready for agglomeration into one great 
state. 

On August 3, 1884, Stanley arrived at Ostend on his return, and 
presented' his report to the King of the Belgians. From the work he 
had done has arisen the great Congo Free State, occupying much of 
the heart of Africa. 




A DERVISH CHARGE, SOUDAN WAR 

nf the Soudan in which Sir Herbert Kitchener avenged the massacrs of Hicks Pasha and his 
12,000 men; also the death of the heroic Gordon which occurred a year later 




A KAFFIR CHIEF 



'/' 




A MATABELE CHIEF 

NATIVE TYPES OF AFRICA 



CHAPTER XXXIX 

The Relief of Emin Pasha 

AMONG the remarkable achievements of African travel there is 
none of more striking and thrilling interest than that of 
Stanley's expedition for the relief of Emin Pasha, who 
through the operations of the Mahdists had been left stranded for 
years in the Egyptian Soudan. How Stanley found Emin is as inter- 
esting in its way as how Stanley found Livingstone. A tale of super- 
abundant adventure will be briefly dealt with in the present chapter. 

Readers of modern history are aware of the revolt of the Arabs 
under the Mahdi, of the capture by them of Khartoum, and of the 
death in that city of the famous General Gordon. In the spring of 
1878, before this outbreak, Gordon had appointed Dr. Schnitzer, a 
Russian physician, as governor of the equatorial province of the 
Soudan. In accepting it, he adopted the Arabic name of Emin and 
was thenceforward known as Emin Pasha. His province extended 
from the borders of Uganda and the shores of the Albert Nyanza to 
some distance north of Gondokoro and the Nile, a region nearly 1,000 
miles distant from Khartoum. 

With the capture of Khartoum and the surrounding region by the 
Mahdists, Emin was cut off completely from civilization and for sev- 
eral years after 1884, nothing was heard from him. He was as iso- 
lated as Livingstone had been in the Tanganyika region. It was to find 
Emin that Stanley set out in 1887, as he had set out years earlier to 
"find Livingstone." 

With the details of this famous expedition we must deal very 
briefly. On the 29th of April, 1887, Stanley left Leopoldville with the 
members and' material of his expedition, in four steamers and three 
lighters, for the mouth of the Aruwimi, which river he proposed to 
follow in his march towards the Albert Nyanza. Building a strong- 
hold here and leaving it in the hands of Major Barttelot, in command 



362 THE RELIEF OF EMIN PASHA 

of the river guard, Stanley plunged into the great forest of the Aru- 
wimi on the 28th of June, with a force of about four hundred men. 

Month after month rolled by, but no voice came out of the still- 
ness to speak of his progress or safety. As time went on, and the sus- 
pense became more acute, expectation gave way to disappointment, and 
disappointment to misgiving and doubt. Now and again rumors came 
through native channels — rumors of famine and disease, fighting, 
defeat, capture — rumors even of death. They came to the east coast 
and the west, and thence were sent to Europe. They filtrated through 
the Soudan and reached Egypt. The Khalifa and his fanatical lieu- 
tenants seized them and converted them into reports of Mahdist tri- 
umphs. Emin was defeated, and he and Stanley captured! The 
clouds thickened, and the continuing silence deepened the gloom which 
hung over the equatorial province. Where was . Stanley during all 
these months? It was not until 1889 that the answer came in letters 
from the long-vanished traveler. 

On leaving his rear-guard entrenched at Yambuya, Stanley, with 
the main body of the expedition, followed the bank of the Aruwimi, 
and very soon made acquaintance with that native hostility which was 
to dog his steps almost to the very end. For, at their approach to the 
first town of importance, the natives, warned by the loud beating of 
their watchman's drum, set fire to their frail huts, and withdrew into 
ambush in the forest, there to await the passing of the advancing 
strangers. Now the approach to these towns in the river valley was 
in itself a glaring example of the subtleties of savage warfare, for 
the path was honey-combed with shallow pits, which were filled with 
splinters, so sharply pointed as practically to be skewers, and hidden 
from the sight of all but the most experienced by a light layer of leaves 
and tranches. To add to the deception, these approaches were cleared 
by the forest people for some hundred yards or so, and formed — what 
is so unusual in Central Africa — a wide and direct avenue to the vil- 
lage. The real approach would be narrow and tortuous, making a 
wide detour, and die apparently direct path all the more alluring. 
And then, with a fine sense of strategic warfare the natives would 
pour their poisoned arrows and spears upon the expedition at the 
very moment when the discovery of the hidden pits had thrown it into 



THE RELIEF OF EMIN PASHA 363 

confusion and panic. One can readily imagine the effect of such an 
experience upon the bare-footed and half-clothed Wangwana from 
Zanzibar, and appreciate more fully the command Stanley must have 
acquired over his men to have rallied them time after time, and induced 
them to present an orderly front to their hidden assailants in the dense 
jungle on either hand. 

From the 5th of July to the middle of October the expedition kept 
by the bank of the Aruwimi. The river presented a noble aspect, vary- 
ing in width from 500 to 900 yards, and dotted over with islets fre- 
quently covered with a dense tropical growth. 

Despite the number of men who had been wounded by the peculiar 
mode of defence adopted by the natives, as well as by their actual 
attacks, the expedition marched on without actual loss till Augut 1st. 
On that day, however, the first death occurred, and in the next nine 
days' march through a wilderness where food was unobtainable, sev- 
eral members of Stanley's force succumbed to their injuries, and mat- 
ters began to have a serious aspect. On August 13th, on arriving at 
Avi-sheba, five men were killed by poisoned arrows, and Lieutenant 
Stairs was badly wounded. Two days later, a number of men under 
the command of Mr. Mounteney Jephson, lost their way, and until 
the forces were united, six days later, the liveliest apprehensions were 
entertained of their annihilation by the utterly savage natives. 

For a hundred and sixty days — from the end of June to the mid- 
dle of November — Stanley and his followers hacked and hewed their 
way through this deadly forest jungle. "Take," wrote that wonderful 
man to his friend, Mr. Bruce, "take a thick Scottish copse, dripping 
with rain; imagine this copse to be a mere undergrowth, nourished 
under the impenetrable shade of ancient trees, ranging from 100 to 
180 feet high; briars and thorns abundant; lazy creeks meandering 
through the depths of the jungle, and sometimes a deep affluent of a 
great river. Imagine this forest and jungle in all stages of decay and 
growth — old trees falling, leaning perilously over, fallen prostrate; 
ants and insects of all kinds, sizes, and colors murmuring around; 
monkeys and chimpanzees above; queer noises of birds and animals; 
crashes in the jungle as troops of elephants rushed away; dwarfs 
with poisoned arrows securely hidden behind some buttress, or 



364 THE RELIEF OF EM IN PASHA 

in some dark recess; strong brown-bodied aborigines with terribly 
sharp spears, standing poised, still as dead stumps; rain pattering 
clown on you every other day in the year ; an impure atmosphere, with 
its dread consequences, fever and dysentery; gloom throughout the 
day, and darkness almost palpable throughout the night; and then, if 
you imagine such a forest extending the entire distance from Plymouth 
to Peterhead, you will have a fair idea of some of the inconveniences 
endured by us." 

The last month spent in forcing their way through the forest was 
a memorable one. The Arabs had devastated the region through 
which the expedition was now passing; and of inhabitants, and, con- 
sequently, of food, there was no trace. In their feeble condition this 
was even worse than active hostility. The fungi, the wild fruits — 
especially a large bean-shaped nut — formed the staple of food — food 
that had to be sought and found and gathered in great quantity before 
it could satisfy the pangs of the famished people. 

At length Stanley reached the district of Ibwiri, and at the same 
time the eastern limit of the great forest. The joy with which the 
whole expedition hailed the open grassy country which lay before 
them was unbounded. The forest — which, according to Stanley, 
covers an area of at least a quarter of a million square miles, or, in 
other words, five times the area of England — had oppressed them with 
its gloom, had fostered' the fever and ague, the dysentery and other ills 
from which they had suffered so greatly, and had sheltered the relent- 
less savages who dogged their every step. Now at Ibwiri their suffer- 
ings terminated for a time. 

"Ourselves and men," wrote Stanley to Sir William Mackinnon, 
"were skeletons. Out of 389 we now only numbered 174, several of 
whom seemed to have no hope of life left. . . . The suffering had 
been so awful, calamities so numerous, the forest so endless apparently, 
that they refused to believe that by and by we should' see plains and 
cattle, and the Nyanza, and the white man, Emin Pasha. They turned 
a deaf ear to our prayers and entreaties, for, driven by hunger and 
suffering, they sold their rifles and equipments for a few ears of Indian 
corn, deserted with the ammunition, and were altogether demoral- 
ized'. . . . We halted thirteen days in Ibwiri, and reveled on 



THE RELIEF OF EM IN PASHA 365 

fowls, goats, bananas, corn, sweet potatoes, yams, beans, etc. . . . 
They were still 126 miles from the lake; but, given food, such a dis- 
tance seemed nothing. . . * . After 160 days' continuous gloom we 
saw the light of broad day shining all around us, and making all things 
beautiful. We thought we had never seen grass so green or country 
so lovely. The men literally yelled and leaped with joy, and raced 
over the ground with their burdens. Ah! this was the old spirit of 
former expeditions, successfully completed, all of a sudden revived!" 

At 1 P. M., on the 13th of December, 1887, after a brief camp for 
rest and refreshment, the expedition moved on its eastward march. 
And now let Stanley tell his own tale. 

"Fifteen minutes later, I cried out, 'Prepare yourselves for a 
sight of the Nyanza.' 

"The men murmured and doubted, and said: 

"Why does the master continually talk to us in this way? 
Nyanza, indeed ! Is not this a plain, and can we not see mountains at 
least four days' march ahead of us ?' 

"At 1.30 P. M. the Albert Nyanza was below them! 

"Now it was my turn to jeer and scoff at the doubters, but as 
I was about to ask them what they saw, so many came to kiss my 
hands and beg my pardon, that I could not say a word. This was my 
reward." 

About six miles in front of them lay Kavalli, the objective point 
of the expedition ; and beyond Kavalli, the blue expanse of the Albert 
Nyanza. 

We must omit describing how Stanley met Emm, and found that 
during the years of his isolation he had defended himself and his 
province against the Mahdists. His powers of holding out longer, 
however, were fast passing away, yet when Stanley sought to induce 
him to retire he found it difficult to obtain any definite answer. Em in 
still hoped to be able to sustain himself against his enemies, and Stan- 
ley could not convince him to the contrary. 

What the great traveler now did was to return by the long route 
through the forest with the hope of reaching his rear guard under 
Major Barttelot. He failed to find them until he had nearly reached 
Yambava, and did' so to learn that the major had been killed, and out 



3 66 THE RELIEF OF EMIN PASHA 

of the two hundred and fifty-seven men only seventy-one were left, 
many of them unfit for service. The stores had also largely dis- 
appeared, but more were left than the few men could carry. 

Most men, under such discouraging circumstances, would have 
abandoned the enterprise, but Stanley was of heroic mould, and a 
third time set out to traverse that frightful forest. In this third jour- 
ney the expedition narrowly escaped starvation, but they kept on until 
the lake was reached again, to find that Emin's men had rebelled 
against him and that he was a prisoner in their hands. 

The irresolution of Emin was at an end. When Stanley next met 
him he consented to return, and on the ioth of April, 1889, his fol- 
lowers and those of Stanley set out, this time directing their steps, 
not towards the Congo, but on the shorter route to the eastern coast. 
It was a journey difficult enough in its way, and one in which some 
important geographical discoveries were made. It ended on the 5th 
of December at Bagamoyo, the port of Zanzibar. 

Thus was completed this remarkable work of exploration and 
relief, the most stupendous in its way ever ventured upon. Stanley 
h<Ld twice crossed Africa, in different latitudes, had established a great 
African state, and had made discoveries of the most far-reaching 
importance, and his name stands next to that of Livingstone, in the 
front rank of modern explorers. 



CHAPTER XL 

Cameron's Journey Across Africa 

VERNEY LOVETT CAMERON, a commander in the British 
navy, had the distinction of being the first man to cross Africa 
from east to west, preceding Stanley in this exploit. He 
passed through numbers of hitherto unknown countries, had multi- 
tudes of adventures, and finally reached the coast a complete wreck, 
on the verge of death. As the first after Livingstone to reveal the 
mysteries of tropical Africa, the story of his exploits is one of leading 
importance. 

Like Stanley, he went out to "find Livingstone," sent by the 
Royal Geographical Society of London, Dr. Dillon, an old friend of 
his, accompanying him. Leaving England in November, 1872, he 
proceeded to Zanzibar, where stores and men were obtained, among 
the latter being Bombay, who had been the chief of Captain Speke's 
followers. On February 2, 1873, tne party reached Bagamoyo, its 
starting point on the mainland. Here carriers were hired, about two 
hundred of them, and in a few days more the party set out on its long 
and toilsome march. 

Though the journey through what is now German East Africa 
was replete with adventures and misadventures, it covered somewhat 
familiar ground, and we shall pass on with the travelers to the Arab 
settlement of Unyanyembe, of which we have spoken in the story of 
Livingstone and Stanley. Here a long delay was made, owing to the 
difficulty of obtaining carriers to continue the journey. Fever attacked 
the whites of the expedition, Cameron, Dillon and Lieutenant Mur- 
phy, the last named having joined at Aden. Its effects were so serious 
in the case of Dillon and Murphy that they were obliged to retrace 
their steps to the coast, during which Dillon, in a paroxysm of the 
fever, killed himself. 

On October 20, 1873, Cameron received' an important letter, 
signed by Jacob Wainwright, of the Livingstone expedition. Obscure 

(367) 



368 CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 

in its phraseology, it indicated the death of some one, and when Chu- 
mah, the bearer of the letter, was questioned, he confirmed the fear that 
it was Livingstone that had died. This sad fact rendered the main 
purpose of the expedition useless, but there were hopes of obtaining 
some of the deceased hero's effects and also of completing the re- 
searches he had attempted, and Cameron determined to push on. 

On February 18, 1875, he arrived at Lake Tanganyika, the great 
central sea which had been discovered fifteen years before by Captain 
Burton, and took up his temporary residence at Kawele, a port of 
Ujiji. Being assured that there was no possibility of traveling west 
of the lake for three months more at least ; and it being very important 
to wait until a caravan set forth for the coast at Zanzibar, as Cam- 
eron wished to forward the box of Livingstone's papers that had" been 
left at Ujiji; he formed a plan of exploring the southern shores of the 
lake, which had not been thoroughly examined. 

The scenery on the shores of this lake he found to be most beau- 
tiful, and the tall red sandstone cliffs, their color mingling with the 
vivid green of the thick foliage on the banks, with the deep blue of 
the sky overhead, and the blue of the great expanse of water stretching 
around, presented a brilliantly colored picture that cannot soon be 
forgotten. 

Rounding two headlands, Cameron came upon the part of the 
lake which had not yet, as he believed, been explored. On nearing 
the southern end the scenery became very grand. Enormous masses 
of rocks piled upon each other to an immense height, sometimes in 
the shape of obelisks, pyramids, and vast temples, overgrown with 
trees jutting out from every crevice, with gigantic creepers fifty or 
sixty feet long, overhung the lake, with great caves and hollows dis- 
cernible through the thick fringe of vegetation at their base. On these 
shores some gorillas, looking larger than men, were seen, but they 
quickly vanished out of sight. 

On May 9th Cameron had found his way to Ujiji again, and there 
he was gladdened' by the sight of a letter from home, only a year old ! 
This letter had had a curious fate. The caravan by which it was sent 
had been dispersed by robbers, who seized everything, including the 
letters, but they in turn were defeated by another caravan, and the 



CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 369 

packet of letters was discovered on the body of one of the robbers who 
had been killed. 

On the 2d of May a move was made on the westward journey. 
After crossing the Tanganyika to Kasenge, Cameron marshalled his 
men for the long land journey before them, and once more he had 
to endure the old fractiousness and reckless carelessness of his men; 
the only way of keeping them together was for him to march in the 
rear of the party, and even then they would very often lie down in 
the jungle until he had passed, and so escape his notice. 

The dreaded country of the Manyuema was now entered, and 
here the men were ordered to march in close ranks, as stragglers 
would run the danger of being seized, killed and probably eaten by 
the cannibal savages. Yet, as he went on, Cameron found the natives 
decidedly well disposed to him as a fellow-countryman of Livingstone, 
whose gentle kindness when he passed through this country had not 
been forgotten by them. After crossing the river. Luama, which is a 
broad tributary of the Lualaba, at last this great river was reached, 
and Cameron and his men were taken across it in canoes to Nyangwe, 
an important town and central depot for the traders, on its banks. 

Cameron had intended to follow the river down to the sea by the 
route which Stanley afterwards took, but the difficulty of obtaining 
canoes was insuperable. The people would not take cowries ; the only 
payment that would have satisfied them was slaves, and these of course 
he had not. Abandoning this plan, therefore, and taking three guides 
whom Tippu-Tib provided, he struck a southerly course again, in the 
hope of discovering some mysterious lakes of which he had heard a 
great deal. This necessary change of plan left to Stanley the work of 
exploring the greatest of African rivers. 

On the 10th of June, after long delays, the journey to the coast 
was actually commenced, in the company of Alvez, a rascally Arab 
ivory and slave trader, who was going to Benguella with a troop of 
seven hundred' slaves, augmented, before leaving the country, to one 
thousand five hundred; and many sad and horrible sights, which he 
was powerless to prevent, had to be endured by the heart-sick traveler. 
Yet the small size to which Cameron's party had been reduced ren- 
dered it necessary to accompany some large caravan. 



37 o CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 

The country of Ulunda was entered on the 27th of July, 1875. 
The privations of hunger now began to be felt severely by Cameron 
and his men, as beads were no longer of use, and the people would 
exchange provisions only for slaves, cloth and gunpowder, none of 
which could be given them, The great river of South Africa, the 
Zambesi, was now not far distant, and we find that on August 8th it 
was only fourteen miles to the south of the camp. Cameron remarks 
that by a short system of canals the two rivers, the Congo and Zam- 
besi, might be united, so closely do they approach each other even at 
this part. 

On October 10th Cameron finally left Alvez and his crew behind 
him, and again set forth alone. The first place of any importance that 
was reached was the town of Kagnombe, which is of considerable 
size, being three miles in circumference; but as large space is occu- 
pied by cattle and pig-pens and tobacco-gardens, the population is not 
so large as the size of the town might lead one to expect. The expe- 
dition had now reached Portuguese West Africa and in this town was 
the house of Signor Goncalves, a very kind-hearted old Portuguese 
gentleman, who entertained the travelers most hospitably. The nov- 
elty of anything like civilized life again was a perfect delight to Cam- 
eron. There was actually a clean white cloth spread upon the table ! 
and the meal, consisting of biscuits, butter and other "canned deli- 
cacies," washed down with wine and coffee, was a royal feast to him 
after the long privations of the way. But, alas, he was to find that 
those privations were not yet at an end! 

The men day by day became more and more helpless, and Cam- 
eron, pondering on the one hundred and twenty miles that had still to 
be traversed to the coast, made up his mind that something decisive 
must be done. The result of his cogitations was this: to abandon 
tent, boat, bed and everything, except his instruments, journals and 
books, and, with a few of the strongest men, to push on without delay 
for the coast, and send assistance from thence as speedily as possible 
to the ailing men who were behind. Having decided on this move, 
it was quickly carried out. Everything was left but about twenty 
pounds weight of things, which were carried by the men in turns 
on the way. Bombay was left in charge of the other men, and forced 



CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 37 x 

marches were then begun through a mountainous country, which 
greatly increased the labor of walking. 

At last, terribly exhausted and in almost the last stage of weak- 
ness and pain, the summit of the lofty range they had for some time 
been ascending was reached. "What was that distant line upon the 
sky?" They gazed and gazed, and then joyfully knew that it was the 
sea ! Then the march was resumed, but it was only at a crawling pace, 
so utterly was their strength worn out. 

The next morning, when Cameron went to bathe, he was puzzled 
by discovering that his body was marked all over with great purple 
spots, and that a slight bruise on his ankle had developed into a large 
sore; also when he began to smoke his morning pipe, he discovered 
that his mouth was bleeding. Though he did not know it then, the 
fact was that the poor and' insufficient food he had subsisted on for 
some time had brought on an attack of scurvy. On they went that day 
across a rough and waterless plain, "intersected by ravines and dry 
watercourses, up and down the sides of which we clambered in the 
dark, slipping about and bruising ourselves. But what did it matter? 
The next morning would see us at Katombela," the European settle- 
ment. Towards evening one of the men who was in advance shouted, 
"Here's the camp, master!" and there was the messenger returning, 
and, best of all, bearing with him a basket containing wine, bread, 
tins of sardines and a sausage; and although from the state of his 
mouth Cameron could not eat without pain, he managed to make 
something of a supper. 

The next day, long before the rising of the sun, full of excitement 
in the prospect of reaching the sea that day, he was on the inarch. 
Then came the joyful end of the long marches and weary labors, and 
this is what he says of it: 

"I ran down the slope towards Katombela swinging my rifle 
round my head, which I believe was almost 'turned' for very joy ; and 
the men, carried away with the same sense of relief, joined in the 
running till we approached nearer the town. Then I unfurled my 
colors and went forward more quietly. Coming towards us I saw a 
couple of hammocks with awnings, followed by three men carrying 
baskets; and on meeting this party a jolly-looking little Frenchman 



372 CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 

jumped out, seized the baskets and instantly opened a bottle to drink 
'to the honor of the first European who had ever succeeded in crossing 
tropical Africa from east to west.' For this hearty welcome I found 
I was indebted to Monsieur Cauchoix, an old officer of the French 
navy, who had settled as a merchant at Benguella. Hearing of my 
approach between ten and eleven o'clock the night before, he had im- 
mediately started off to meet me. His other baskets were also full of 
provisions, which he distributed to my men, throwing loaves of bread 
at the hungry mortals; after which we moved on,, and in a few min- 
utes arrived at a house which he owned in Katombela." 

Arrangements were at once made for sending relief t<3 the men 
behind, and then Cameron very unwillingly found himself so seriously 
ill that he had with all haste to be carried in a hammock to the hospital 
at Benguella. His tongue was so swollen that it projected beyond 
his teeth, blood flowed copiously from his mouth, and. his body was an 
extraordinary sight, covered with blotches of a variety of shades, 
purple, blue, black and green, the rest of the skin being a deadly white. 
He was indeed in a dangerous state; and probably if the illness had 
come on a few days before, his life must have been lost. As it was, 
with careful nursing and the gradual administration of natural food, 
the crisis passed'; before long, he was able to eat and go about again 
as usual, and had the satisfaction of seeing the remarkable kaleidos- 
copic appearance of his skin rapidly fade away. 

There is little more to be told. From Loanda the men who had 
accompanied him from Zanzibar were sent back in a schooner he 
specially bought for the purpose, and Cameron himself took passage 
in the steamer "Congo" for Liverpool, where he arrived on the 2d of 
April, three years and four months after his departure. 



CHAPTER XLII 

Sir Samuel Baker and the Slave Trade 

UNTIL recently the worst sore in Africa was its horrible traffic 
in slaves, but, thanks to the efforts of European governments, 
this evil now no longer flaunts itself before us. What the 
awful character of this loathsome business was may be gleamed from 
the following description, penned by one of the first men who endeav- 
ored to mitigate its horrors : 

"The people for the most part engaged in the nefarious traffic of 
the White Nile are Syrians, Copts, Turks, Circassians, and some few 
Europeans. 

"Throughout the Soudan money is exceedingly scarce and the rate 
of interest exorbitant, varying, according to the securities, from thirty- 
six to eighty per cent. ; this fact proves general poverty and dishonesty, 
and acts as a preventive to all improvement. So high and fatal a rate 
deters all honest enterprise, and the country must lie in ruin under such 
a system. The wild speculator borrows upon such terms, to rise sud- 
denly like a rocket, or to fall like its exhausted stick. Thus, honest 
enterprise being impossible, dishonesty takes the lead, and a successful 
expedition to the White Nile is supposed to overcome all charges. 
There are two classes of White Nile traders, the one possessing capital, 
the other being penniless adventurers ; the same system of operations 
is pursued by both, but that of the former will be evident from the 
description of the latter. 

"A man without means forms an expedition, and borrows money 
for this purpose at one hundred per cent, after this fashion. He agrees 
to repay the lender in ivory at one-half its market value. Having ob- 
tained the required sum, he hires several vessels and engages from one 
hundred to three hundred men, composed of Arabs and runaway vil- 
lains from distant countries, who have found an asylum from justice 
in the obscurity of Khartoum. He purchases guns and large quantities 
of ammunition for his men, together with a few hundred pounds of 



374 



SAMUEL BAKER AND THE SLAVE TRADE 



glass beads. The piratical expedition being complete, he pays his men 
five months' wages in advance, at the rate of forty-five piastres (nine 
shillings) per month, and he agrees to give them eighty piastres per 
month for any period exceeding the five months advanced. His men 
receive their advance partly in cash and partly in cotton stuffs for 




BAKER'S ARRIVAL AT RIONGA'S ISLAND 



clothes at an exorbitant price. Every man has a strip of paper, upon 
which is written, by the clerk of the expedition, the amount he has 
received both in goods and money, and this paper he must produce at 
the final settlement. 

"The vessels sail about December, and on arrival at the desired 
locality, the party disembark and proceed into the interior, until they 
arrive at the village of some negro chief, with whom they establish an 



SIR SAMUEL BABER AND THE SLAVE TRADE 375 

intimacy. Charmed with his new friends, the power of whose weap- 
ons he acknowledges, the negro chief does not neglect the opportunity 
of seeking their alliance to attack a hostile neighbor. Marching 
throughout the night, guided by their negro hosts, they bivouac within 
an hour's march of the unsuspecting village doomed to an attack about 
half an hour before break of day. The time arrives, and, quietly sur- 
rounding the village while its occupants are still sleeping, they fire 
the grass huts in all directions, and pour volleys of musketry through 
the flaming thatch. Panic-stricken, the unfortunate victims rush from 
their burning dwellings, and the men are shot down like pheasants 
in a battue, while the women and children, bewildered in the danger 
and confusion, are kidnapped and secured. The herds of cattle, still 
within their kraal or 'zareeba,' are easily disposed of, and are driven 
ofT with great rejoicing, as the prize of victory. The women and 
children are then fastened together, the former secured in an instru- 
ment called a sheba, made of a forked pole, the neck of the prisoner 
fitting into the fork, secured by a cross-piece lashed behind; while the 
wrists, brought together in advance of the body, are tied to the pole. 
The children are then fastened by their necks with a rope attached to 
the women, and thus form a living chain, in which order they are 
marched to the headquarters in company with the captured herds. 

"The Egyptian government had been pressed by some of the 
European powers to take measures for the suppression of the slave- 
trade: a steamer had accordingly been ordered to capture all vessels 
laden with this infamous cargo. Two vessels had been seized and 
brought to Khartoum, containing eight hundred and fifty human be- 
ings! — packed together like anchovies, the living and the dying fes- 
tering together, and the dead lying beneath them. European eye- 
witnesses assured me that the disembarking of this frightful cargo 
could not be adequately described. The slaves were in a state of 
starvation, having had nothing to eat for several days. They were 
landed in Khartoum; the dead and many of the dying were tied by 
the ankles, and dragged along the ground by donkeys through the 
streets. The most malignant typhus, or plague, had' been engendered 
among this mass of filth and misery, thus closely packed together. 
These creatures brought the plague to Khartoum, which, like a curse 



376 SIR SAMUEL BAKER AND THE SLAVE TRADE 

visited upon this country of slavery and abomination, spread like a 
lire throughout the town, and consumed the regiments that had re- 
ceived this horrible legacy from the dying cargo of slaves." 

Such a horrible state of affairs could not be permitted to con- 
tinue, and in 1869 the Egyptian government engaged the famous trav- 
eler Sir Samuel White Baker, who had discovered the Albert Nyanza 
five years before, to head an expedition for its suppression. Mr. Baker 
was placed at the head of one thousand four hundred infantry, two 
hundred cavalry, and two batteries of artillery, with orders to pro- 
ceed at once into the district of Gondokoro, which lay one thousand 
four hundred and fifty miles distant. On this perilous journey he was 
accompanied by his wife. He writes: "Had I been alone it would 
have been no hard lot to die upon the path before me, but there was 
one who, although my greatest comfort, was also my greatest care. 
I shuddered at the prospect for her, should she be left alone in savage 
lands at my death; and gladly would I have left her in the luxuries 
of home instead of exposing her to the miseries of Africa. It was in 
vain that I implored her to remain, and that I painted the difficulties 
and perils still blacker than I supposed they really would be : she was 
resolved, with woman's constancy and devotion, to share all dangers 
and to follow me through each rough footstep of the wild life before 
me. And Ruth said, 'Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from 
following after thee : for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou 
lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my 
God : where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried : the Lord 
do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me.' " 

Mr. Baker selected his bodyguard from two regiments accom- 
panying the expedition, and part of them were black and part white. 
These he armed with Snider rifles and jocosely named "the forty 
thieves." Passing Khartoum and proceeding to the point where the 
"Blue Nile" unites with the "White Nile," they advanced rapidly up 
the latter, under a fresh breeze which blew from the north. Continu- 
ing up the stream until he reached a point where it is joined' by the 
Sobat, he entered the Bahr Giraffe, the main river being impassable 
on account of the masses of vegetation which float upon its surface, 
and the large number of floating islands which it contains. This 



SIR SAMUEL BAKER AND THE SLAVE TRADE ^ 

floating vegetation proved so impassable an obstruction that, after 
fighting it for many weeks, the expedition was forced to retire, baffled, 
to Khartoum, Baker determining to return in the following season. 
On this occasion he succeeded in overcoming the obstructions, and 
reached Gondokoro on April 15, 1870. 

"Upon my arrival at Gondokoro," says Mr. Baker, "I was looked 
upon as a spy sent by the British government. Whenever I approached 
the encampments of the various traders, 1 heard the clanking of fetters 
before I reached the station, as the slaves were being quickly driven 
into hiding-places to avoid inspection. They were chained by two 
rings secured round the ankles, and connected by three or four links. 

"Gondokoro was a perfect hell. It is utterly ignored by the Egyp- 
tian authorities, although well known to be a colony of cut-throats. 
Nothing would be easier than to send a few officers and' two hundred 
men from Khartoum to form a military government, and thus impede 
the slave-trade ; but a bribe from the traders to the authorities is suffi- 
cient to insure an uninterrupted asylum for any amount of villainy. 
The camps were full of slaves, and the Bari natives assured me that 
there were large depots of slaves in the interior belonging to the trad- 
ers that would be marched to Gondokoro for shipment to the Soudan 
a few hours after my departure. I was the great stumbling-block to. 
the trade, and my presence at Gondokoro was considered as an unwar- 
rantable intrusion upon a locality sacred to slavery and iniquity. There 
were about six hundred of the traders' people at Gondokoro, whose 
time was passed in drinking, quarreling and ill-treating the slaves." 

With such people to deal with Baker had a task that seemed 
destined to failure. He had been at Gondokoro but a few days when 
he saw signs of discontent among his men, who had evidently been 
tampered with by the traders' agents. This developed into something 
approaching an insurrection, which the leader had no small trouble to 
quell. Though he succeeded in this, he saw that he had almost hope- 
less material under his command. 

"From that moment," he says, "I knew that my expedition was 
fated. This outbreak was an example of what was to follow. Previ- 
ous to leaving Khartoum I had felt convinced that I could not succeed 
with such villains for escort as these Khartoumers : thus I had applied 



3 78 SIR SAMUEL BAKER AND THE SLAVE TRADE 

to the -Egyptian authorities for a few troops, but had been refused. 
I was now in an awkward position. All my men had received five 
months' wages in advance, according to the custom of the White Nile; 
thus I had no control over them. There were no Egyptian authorities 
in Gondokoro; it was a nest of robbers ; and my men had just exhibited 
so pleasantly their attachment to me, and their fidelity. There was no 
European beyond Gondokoro; thus I should be the only white man 
among this colony of wolves ; and I had in prospective a difficult and 
uncertain path, where the only chance of success lay in the complete 
discipline of my escort, and the perfect organization of the expedition. 
After the scene just enacted I felt sure that my escort would give me 
more cause for anxiety than the acknowledged hostility of the natives." 

Having been instructed by the khedive to annex the surrounding 
territory to his province, Baker selected the 26th of May as the time 
when it would be officially annexed to Egypt. On that day, the troops, 
numbering one thousand four hundred men, dressed in bright uni- 
forms, gathered around the flagstaff which had been erected; and the 
proclamation was read, which declared the khedive ruler of the coun- 
try and possessor of its soil. The flag was then drawn up to the top 
of the staff, and the officers saluted it with drawn swords. After this 
the artillery fired a salute, and the region around Gondokoro belonged 
to Egypt's ruler. The natives watched the proceedings with astonish- 
ment, and were told in response to their questionings, that all this 
pomp was for their benefit, and that the new-comers only sought their 
good, and to protect them from the slave-traders. 

Baker at once endeavored to set the natives to work; he partially 
succeeded in this, and' for a time everything bore a promising look. 
But the warlike Bari had restrained their destructive propensities as 
long as they could, and began to show signs of hostility. There suc- 
ceeded a war with these people in which they showed the greatest 
courage and ferocity, and in which the men under Baker's command 
manifested great lack of soldierly qualities. He succeeded in subduing 
them at last, largely by the aid of his faithful "forty thieves," or body- 
guard, upon whom alone he could safely depend. 

Early in 1871 Baker set out on a trip to the Albert Nyanza. On 
his return he stopped at Fatiko, a slave-trading station established 



SIR SAMUEL BAKER AND THE SLAVE TRADE 379 

by Abou Saood, a crafty Arab, and one of Baker's chief enemies. It 
was he who had instigated the attack of the Bari upon Baker's troops. 
He now put on a smiling countenance and welcomed' his visitor as 
though he was his dearest friend. But Baker was not deceived and 
laid his plans to set free all the slaves in the vicinity. 

He had not only the crafty Arab to deal with, but as crafty a 
negro, Abba Rega, the king of the province, whose professions of 
amity were followed by a treacherous assault upon the troops. Baker, 
however, was equal to the occasion. He formally annexed the region 
as Egyptian territory, and took active measures to break up the slave 
trade in that quarter. As for Abba Rega, his succession of attacks 
led to the destruction of his town and all the villages of the district. 

Baker now set out for the capital of Rionga, a friendly African 
king, with whom he performed the ceremony of blood brotherhood 
and whom he found a valuable aid. 

One further hostile movement he had to deal with, an attack on 
the camp of Abdullah, one of his subordinate officers, fomented by 
Abou Saood. Baker, learning of the assault, hurried from Rionga's 
capital to Abdullah's assistance. He found that the attack was led by 
Wat-el-Mek, in command of his irregular forces, whom the Arab had 
induced to mutiny. This was the last attempt to destroy Baker's 
forces. His victory proved the death-blow of the slave traffic in that 
region. From that time peace reigned, the natives were secure in 
their homes and the future looked bright for the native Africans. 



M 



CHAPTER XLII 

In the Land of Gorillas and Pygmies 

DU CHAILLU was a Frenchman who became a naturalized 
American. In the autumn of 1855 he left America for the 
West Coast of Africa with the intention of remaining several 
years in that country. He started from the settlements on the Gaboon 
River, to explore a great tract of country lying between the seashore 
and the ranges of mountains which were said to rise to great heights 
along the central line of the continent. He was possessed of excep- 
tional advantages for this purpose, as he had previously resided several 
years on that coast, where his father had formerly possessed a factory ; 
and he had a knowledge of several of the languages of the native 
tribes on the coast. The first journey that he planned was up the 
Gaboon River into the land of the Fans, who were reputed to be a race 
of warlike cannibals ; but Du Chaillu was brave, and had always found 
the natives well inclined to him, and, besides, to catch a sight of and 
obtain the skin of a gorilla was worth encountering some risk and 
danger. While waiting on the coast with the object of becoming 
acclimatized, he studied the habits of native tribes, and perfected 
himself in their languages ; and he tells some curious stories of customs 
prevailing among the Mpongwe, the principal tribe there. When a 
king dies another is elected by the general vote, and the way in which 
he is informed of his new dignity is as follows : he is surrounded by an 
immense crowd of his future subjects, who set to work to treat him 
in the most outrageous manner— they spit in his face, kick him, throw 
filth at him, pound him with their fists, all the while lustily abusing 
and cursing him, his father, his grandfather, his mother, his sisters, 
and every one of his ancestors. It is as much as to say, "You are not 
our king yet, and we'll make the most of our liberty by thrashing you 
before you have the power to thrash us !" After about half an hour, 
this strange scene comes to an end ; he is taken to the house of the old 
king, a silk hat (the symbol of royalty) is placed upon his head, he is 

(38°) 



IN THE LAND OF GORILLAS AND PYGMIES .v s * 

attired in a red robe, and thus installed as king. After this, some six 
days are spent in riotous feasting and drunkenness. 

The principal object of Du Chaillu was the discovery of a great 
ape which had long been supposed to dwell in this part of Africa, the 
monster of semi-human shape and aspect now well known as the gorilla. 
It was then little more than a tradition and our traveler was the first 
to make the world familiar with its haunts and habits. 

He started' up the Muni River July 27, 1856, with some natives 
who promised to lead him to the monster's abiding place. It was at an 
encampment at the height of about 5,000 feet above the sea that the 
first indication of the vicinity of gorillas was perceived by the negro 
guides, who noticed the sugar-canes in some places beaten down, torn 
out by the roots, and lying about in fragments that evidently had been 
chewed. After several times catching sight of the animals, which, 
however, disappeared too quickly for a shot to be fired, Du Chaillu at 
last killed one, and this adventure must be given in his own words : 

"Suddenly Miengai uttered a little cluck with his tongue, which 
is the natives' way of showing that something is stirring, and that a 
sharp lookout is necessary. And presently I heard, ahead of us seem- 
ingly, a noise as of some one breaking down branches or twigs of trees. 
This was the gorilla, I knew at once, by the eager and satisfied looks 
of the men. They once more looked carefully at their guns, to see if 
by any chance the powder had fallen out of the pans ; I also examined 
mine, to make sure that all was right; and then we marched on cau- 
tiously. The singular noise of the breaking of tree-branches con- 
tinued. We walked with the greatest care, making no noise at all. 
The countenances of the men showed that they thought themselves 
engaged in a very serious undertaking; but we pushed on, until finally 
we thought we saw through the thick woods the moving of the branches 
and small trees which the great beast was tearing down, probably 
to get from them the berries and fruits he lives on. Suddenly, as we 
were yet creeping along, in a silence which made a heavy breath seem 
loud and distinct, the woods were at once filled with the tremendous 
barking roar of the gorilla. Then the underbrush swayed rapidly just 
ahead, and presently before us stood an immense male gorilla. He 
had gone through the jungle on his all-fours; but when he saw our 



3 8 2 IN THE LAND OF GORILLAS AND PYGMIES 

party, he erected himself and looked us boldly in the face. He stood 
about a dozen yards from us, and was a sight I think I shall never 
forget. Nearly six feet high (he proved four inches shorter), with 
immense body, huge chest, and great muscular arms, with fiercely- 
glaring large deep gray eyes, and a hellish expression of face, which 
seemed to me like some nightmare vision: thus stood before us this 
king of the African forest. He was not afraid of us. He stood there, 
and beat his breast with his huge fists till it resounded like an immense 
bass-drum, which is their mode of offering defiance; meantime giving 
vent to roar after roar. The roar of the gorilla is the most singular 
and awful noise heard in these African woods. It begins with a sharp 
bark, like that of an angry dog, then glides into a deep bass roll, which 
literally and closely resembles the roll of distant thunder along the 
sky, for which I have sometimes been tempted to take it where I did 
not see the animal. So deep is it that it seems to proceed less from the 
mouth and throat than from the deep chest and vast paunch/' In 
another place Du Chaillu says that he believes he has heard this roar 
at a distance of three miles. "His eyes began to flash fiercer fire as we 
stood motionless on the defensive, and the crest of short hair which 
stands on his forehead began to twitch rapidly up and down, while his 
powerful fangs were shown as he again sent forth a thunderous roar. 
And now truly he reminded me of nothing but some hellish dream 
creature — a being of that hideous order, half-man half beast, which 
we find pictured by old artists in some representations of the infernal 
regions. He advanced a few steps — then stopped to utter that hide- 
ous roar again — advanced again, and finally stopped when at a dis- 
tance of about six yards from us. And here, just as he began another 
of his roars, beating his breast in rage, we fired, and killed him. With 
a groan which had something terribly human in it, and yet was full 
of brutishness, he fell forward on his face. The body shook convul- 
sively for a few minutes, the limbs moved about in a struggling way, 
and then all was quiet — death had' done its work, and I had leisure to 
examine the huge body. It proved to be five feet eight inches high, 
and the muscular development of the arms and breast showed what 
immense strength it had possessed." 

The people of this country, the Fans, were fortunately very 



IN THE LAND OF GORILLAS AND PYGMIES 383 

friendly, but there is no mistaking the fact of their being cannibals. 
The men are tall and finely made ; they go about almost naked, wearing 
only the skin of a wild cat or tiger round their middle. Their teeth 
are filed to a point, and are sometimes blackened besides, and this 
gives them a peculiarly ferocious look. They wear their hair in long 
thin plaits, and hang all sorts of "fetishes" — monkeys' fingers and 
tails, human hair, skin, teeth and bones, claws and skulls of birds, and 
bits of metal — round their necks. Although they were very well dis- 
posed, and constantly sent the white man presents, he would never 
accept cooked food from them, for fear it had been dressed in one of 
the vessels in which they prepare their horrible human repasts. 

Although these people possess only spears, they are very clever 
in killing elephants. Their plan is to choose a likely place, and then 
gathering a number of the thick cords of the trailing vines, fasten 
these together between the trees until a long network is made, and 
their object then is to drive a frightened elephant towards the. spot 
When he is caught in the nets, there is no escape; the more he tries 
to tear the vines, the more he is entangled in their meshes ; and then 
the natives hurl their spears at him till he is covered with them, looking 
like a huge porcupine, and soon expires from loss of blood. But this 
sport is dangerous, and men are often killed by the infuriated beasts. 

Du Chaillu several times tried to rear and tame the young of the 
gorilla and other apes, but in each case the little thing died. Joe, a 
young male gorilla hardly three years old, was a most savage and 
morose little brute. He rushed savagely at any one who approached 
him, and on one occasion, when he had escaped, it required four men 
to hold him when he was caught at last. Even with Du Chaillu, who 
used to feed him, he was vicious and treacherous. He would come 
readily to eat out of his master's hand, and while fixing his eyes upon 
his face in a seemingly innocent way, would suddenly dart out his foot 
to lay hold of Du Chaillu's leg, and several times he tore large pieces 
from the part of the pantaloons which he had seized. A young female 
gorilla afterwards caught was equally fierce, and the natives were all 
glad when the troublesome little creature died; but a young nshiego 
mbouve that was afterwards secured soon became very friendly and 
amiable ; by the time he died, "Tommy," as he was called, had become 



3 8 4 IN THE LAND OF G0KILLA5 AND PYGMIES 

quite a pet companion of his master's. Poor Tommy's one great vice 
was an inordinate love of brandy : on one occasion the traveler found 
his brandy bottle broken in pieces on the floor and Master Tommy 
coiled up at its side in a state of maudlin drunkenness. 

Du Chaillu made another excursion' to Africa in 1863, the story 
of which, told in his vivacious style, is very interesting, and is espe- 
cially notable for the discovery of a tribe of dwarfs or pygmies, the 
existence of which had been known from old Grecian times, but which 
Du Chaillu had the honor of being the first of modern travelers to see. 
He has thus to his credit the discovery for the modern world of both 
the gorilla and the pygmy. 

Traversing the thick forest on the way to Yengue, he came sud- 
denly upon twelve strange little houses built at random in an open 
space; and on asking Kombila, his guide, what these were, was told 
they were dwellings of the Obongos. Thus he describes them, and 
later on it will be seen that he saw and measured some of these pecu- 
liar little people. 

"How strange the houses of the Dwarfs seemed ! The length of 
each house was about that of a man, and the height was just enough 
to keep the head of a man from touching the roof when he was seated. 
The materials Used in building were the branches of trees bent in the 
form of a bow, the ends put into the ground, and the middle branches 
being the highest. The shape of each house was very much like that 
of an orange cut in two. The frame-work was covered with large 
leaves, and there were little doors which did not seem to be more than 
eighteen inches high, and' about twelve or fifteen inches wide. Even 
the Dwarfs must have lain almost flat on the ground in order to pass 
through. When I say door I mean simply an opening, a hole to go 
through. It was only a tiny doorway. But I managed to get inside 
one of these strange little houses, and I found there two beds, which 
were as curious as everything else about the premises. Three or four 
sticks on each side of the hut were the beds. Each bed was about 
eight inches, or, at the most, ten inches in width. One was for the 
wife and the other for the husband. A little piece of wood on each 
bed made the pillows. It was almost pitch dark inside, the only light 
coming from the opening or door. Between the two beds were the 
remains of a fire, judging by the ashes and the pieces of burnt wood." 



IN THE LAND OF GORILLAS AND PYGMIES 38 

These little people mostly live on serpents, rats and mice, and 
what berries and nuts they can collect in the forest. On the next occa- 
sion the traveler was more successful and found the pygmies. On 
coming to one of their settlements everything appeared to be deserted, 
but Du Chaillu lay flat on the ground at the door of one of the little 
huts, and put his arm in at the entrance in the dark. Sweeping it 
round, he suddenly grasped hold of something; then a piercing shriek 
was heard ; he had caught some one by the ankle, and unceremoniously 
dragging the creature out, it was found to be a poor wrinkled-looking 
old woman. Two poor women were discovered in the other huts, and 
when dragged out- they began to shriek and cry and wring their hands, 
probably thinking that their last day had come, and it was for a long- 
time in vain that the Ashangos assured them that the Oguisi did not 
mean to harm them. 

"For the first time/' says Du Chaillu, "I was able to look care- 
fully at these little Dwarfs. They had prominent cheek-bones, and 
were yellow, their faces being exactly of the same color as the chim- 
panzee's; the palms of their hands were almost as white as those of 
white people; they seemed well proportioned, but their eyes had an 
untamable wildness that struck me at once; they had thick lips and 
flat noses, like the negroes ; their foreheads were low and' narrow, and 
their cheek-bones prominent ; and their hair, which grew in little, short 
tufts, was black, with a reddish tinge. After a while I thought I heard 
a rustling in one of the little houses, so I went there, and looking in- 
side, saw it filled with the tiniest children. They were exceedingly 
shy. When they saw me they hid their heads just as young dogs or 
kittens would do, and got into a huddle, and kept still. These were 
the little Dwarf children who had remained in the village under the 
care of the three women, while the Dwarfs had gone into the forest 
to collect their evening meal — that is to say, nuts, fruits and berries — 
and to see if the traps they had set had caught any game." 

The finding of these little people was Du Chaillu's last success. 
He afterwards met with serious misfortunes, and was forced to fight 
his way through hostile tribes to the coast. At last, on the 21st of 
September, 1866, the mouth of the Fernand' Vaz was reached, and 
once more the traveler looked on the sea. Six days afterwards, though 



3 86 IN THE LAND OF GORILLAS AND PYGMIES 

he had now neither money nor property remaining, he was kindly 
taken as a passenger by the captain of a vessel that was there loading 
for London, and for the last time left the shores of the land where he 
had spent so many days of exciting adventure, of anxious toil, and 
of friendly converse with the poor simple black men whom he had 
made his friends. 



CHAPTER XLIII 

A Brave German Among the Cannibals 

OF those travelers who, starting from the north, have penetrated 
to the heart of Africa, the two most daring and successful have 
undoubtedly been Sir Samuel Baker and Dr. Schweinfurth, the 
German naturalist and explorer. Schweinfurth was no novice in 
travel. In 1863 he had traveled for two years through Egypt and 
Abyssinia, and advanced to Khartoum, where his purse having become 
empty, he was compelled to return to Germany, bringing with him a 
magnificent collection of plants to enrich the European museums. But 
he longed to go back to complete a more extended plan of exploration 
which he had conceived, and at last, in 1868, having received a grant 
of money from the Humboldt Institution, he set forth on his long and 
now famous journey to Central Africa. 

Of his experiences on the way to Khartoum little need be said. 
He went by steamer down the Red Sea to Suakin, and thence overland 
to the Nile, arriving there, the real starting-point of his journey, on 
November 1, 1868. His course now for some distance lay by boat 
up the Nile to the Gazelle River. In the neighborhood of Kaka an 
unfortunate adventure befell him, that of being nearly stung to death 
by bees. Sitting quietly in his cabin one day, he heard shouts from his 
men, who, trudging along the bank, had been towing the boat, but now 
rushed frantically on board again, pursued by a swarm of bees that 
they had disturbed among the grass. The bees closely followed them, 
and a scene of wild confusion ensued' on board. The savage insects 
were everywhere. Schweinfurth covered his face with his handker- 
chief and flung his arms about, but the more he gesticulated, the more 
irritated the furious insects became. They stung him mercilessly on 
his cheeks, his eyelids, beneath his hair, until perfectly maddened, he 
leaped overboard; but even then they did not leave him alone, for 
whenever he raised his head above water the stings rained upon him 
afresh. He was compelled to go on board again, and there taking a 

(387) 



388 A BRAVE GERMAN AMONG THE CANNIBALS 

big sheet he enveloped himself in it, and under its shelter had to set to 
work one by one to crush the bees enclosed with him beneath it. At 
last, after three hours, the buzzing subsided, and the men setting fire 
to the reeds on the bank induced these insect plagues to shift thefr 
quarters. One of the traveler's dogs had been stung to death ; and as 
for himself, though with pincers he was' able to remove the stings from 
his face, those beneath his hair produced small ulcers which were 
painful for several days. 

Passing up the White Nile through the country of the Shillooks, 
and reaching the mouth of the river Sobat, Schweinfurth there made a 
very fortunate acquaintance in the person of Mohammed Aboo 
Sammatt, an influential ivory merchant, who offered to accompany him 
into the interior, and in the event, from first to last, proved a most 
valuable companion and friend. On arriving at the confluence of the 
Bahr-el-Ghazal with the White Nile, great annoyance and delay was 
caused by those masses of vegetation blocking up the river which 
Baker had previously met with. 

"Two hundred of our people," he says, "sailors and soldiers, were 
obliged to lug with ropes for hours together to pull through one boat 
after the other, while they walked along the edge of the floating mass, 
which would bear whole herds of oxen, as I subsequently had an oppor- 
tunity of seeing." 

On March 25th, joining several other caravans that were starting 
for the interior, Schweinfurth and his men, leaving the river, started 
on their inland journey to the west, traveling through the countries of 
the Dyoor, Dinka and Bongo tribes. One great nuisance on the way 
was the tremendous noise which the Nubians of the caravan would 
constantly make at night. When tipsy with their national drink, 
"merissa," they banged for hours together the kettledrums which hung 
at the entrance of the seriba, or village. After vain remonstrances, 
Schweinfurth took the liberty of sprinkling the parchment of these 
huge drums with muriatic acid, so that the next time they were 
drummed upon they split across, and thus, for a time at least, he 
obtained peace. 

After an excursion into the Mittoo country, where, as everywhere, 
he collected abundant fresh botanical and zoological specimens, prepa- 



A BRAVE GERMAN AMONG THE CANNIBALS 389 

rations were made and a start accomplished, on January 7, 1870, for 
the Niam-Niam campaign, the journey through the land of the can- 
nibals. Loathsome as was their habit of eating human flesh, the 
traveler found them friendly for the most part, possessed of consider- 
able knowledge of several of the arts of life, such as those of pottery 
and working metals, and physically a very fine race. He thus describes 
a Niam-Niam warior : 

"With his lance in one hand, his woven shield and trumbash in 
the other — with his scimitar in his girdle, and his loins encircled by 
a skin, to which are attached the tails of several animals — adorned on 
his breast and on his forehead by strings of teeth, the trophies of war. 
or of the chase — his long hair floating freely over his neck and shoul- 
ders — his large keen eyes gleaming from beneath his heavy brow — 
his white and pointed teeth shining from between his parted lips — he- 
advances with a firm and defiant bearing, so that the stranger as he 
gazes upon him may well behold, in this true son of the African 
wilderness, every attribute of the wildest savagery that may be con- 
jured up by the boldest flight of fancy. It is therefore by no means 
difficult to account for the deep impression made by the Niam-Niam 
on the fantastic imagination of the Sudan Arabs. I have seen the wild 
Bishareen and other Bedouins of the Nubian deserts; I have gazed 
with admiration upon the stately war-dress of the Abyssinians ; I have 
been riveted with surprise at the supple forms of the mounted Bag- 
gara ; but nowhere, in any part of Africa, have I ever come across a 
people that in every attitude and every motion exhibited so thorough a 
mastery over all the circumstances of war or of the chase as these 
Niam-Niam. Other nations in comparison seemed to me to fall short 
in the perfect ease — I might almost say, in the dramatic grace — that 
characterized their every movement." 

But strong as they were, they were terribly frightened by Euro- 
pean firearms; and on one occasion, when a quarrel was imminent, 
Aboo Sammatt lighted a lucifer-match and, applying it to the roof of 
a hut, showed he could "make fire," and they submitted at once. And 
when afterwards Schweinfurth gave them matches to strike for them- 
selves, no English display of fireworks was ever more admired, or 
more brilliantly successful — their own method of striking a light being 
the primitive mode of rubbing two dry pieces of wood together. 



3 9 o A BRAVE GERMAN AMONG THE CANNIBALS 

On the 19th of March, the Welle, a grand river flowing to the 
west, and 800 feet in breadth, was reached; and at this point ambas- 
sadors from Munza, king of the Monbuttoo, came to greet the travelers 
on their entrance into his kingdom. Nearly all the people of this part 
of Africa are cannibals ; and though some prefer to conceal from the 
traveler their indulgence in human flesh, the Niam-Niam make no 
secret of it at all. They string the teeth of their victims round their 
necks, and have stakes erected round their buildings adorned with the 
skulls of the men they have eaten. The Nubians who accompanied 
Schweinfurth had all the time the greatest dread of the natives, for 
they knew, if one of them lagged behind, what would be his certain 
fate; and they asserted that even the bodies of the dead were often 
found to have been disinterred and carried off by the Niam-Niams for 
their horrible banquets. 

The people of Monbuttoo, ruled over by King Munza, are very 
like the Niam-Niam, and they, too, are undoubted cannibals. A grand 
reception was awaiting the traveler in the king's palace. Immense 
crowds of natives had flocked thither to gaze on the white man, and 
officials with sticks marched about among the mob in the open space, 
vigorously knocking the little boys on the head', for all the world like 
parish beadles in England. Behind the king's seat hundreds of orna- 
mental lances and spears, all of pure copper, were ranged closely 
together, and in the glare of the noonday sun these shone like a line of 
flashing torches. After a delay of more than an hour, during which 
the king was being adorned in his harem, the trumpeters began to blow 
their enormous ivory horns, the drums made a deafening noise, and a 
number of officials with heavy iron bells added to the din. Then, 
looking neither to right nor left, with a long, firm stride, came the 
king, Munza, and flung himself down on his chair of state. His arms, 
leg, neck, and breast were all covered with copper rings and chains, 
and a large copper crescent was placed on the top of an enormous sort 
of chignon about a foot and a half high, forming part of a crown made 
of closely plaited reeds covered with three layers of parrots' feathers, 
and crowned with a plume of the same. His whole body was smeared 
with the unguent of powdered cam-wood, and his single garment was 
a large piece of fig-bark, which, falling round his body, served as waist- 



A BRAVE GERMAN AMONG THE CANNIBALS 391 

coat and breeches in one. He carried in his hand a sickle-shaped 
scimitar, which served as a sceptre, and by his side were two little 
tables covered with refreshments for his royal use, hidden by napkins 
of fig-bark. He was about forty years of age, slim and erect, with 
regular features, but a hard, cruel look in his eyes and about his mouth. 
- The presents, consisting of a telescope, silver platter, porcelain 
vase, a piece of carved ivory to show how the material was worked, a 
book with gilt edges, a mirror, and a large quantity of magnificent 
beads, were then exhibited; but the king, though carefully looking at 
them, did not say a word of approval. The next morning Munza sent 
the traveler a house in a rather peculiar way. Twenty natives 
appeared' carrying the walls, woven with reeds, and others came behind 
carrying the roof. They then gravely put this together, and there was 
the house deposited close to Schweinfurth's tent and ready for use ! 

After Mohammed had concluded his bartering with the king, he 
wanted to push on farther south to obtain more ivory, and this journey 
was intensely desired by Schweinfurth, who hoped to be able in this 
way to reach the Congo, and at last emerge upon the European colonies 
in the southern latitudes ; but Munza would not permit this southward 
march, as he wanted to keep all the traffic to himself, and finally the 
traveler had very reluctantly, in company with Mohammed and his 
party, to turn his face northwards again. It was while at the Mon- 
buttoo court that he first saw an actual specimen of the race of Pygmies 
similar to those seen by Du Chaillu. The king had a regiment of 
several hundred of these little warriors, who belong to the Akka tribe, 
living in a territory toward the south ; and one day Mohammed seized 
hold of one of them, and', despite his energetic resistance, carried him 
to Schweinfurth's tent for inspection. "I looked," says the traveler, 
"and there, sure enough, was a strange little creature, perched upon 
Mohammed's right shoulder, nervously hugging his head, and casting 
glances of alarm in every direction. Thus at last was I able veritably 
to feast my eyes upon a living embodiment of the myths of some thou- 
sand years !" He was dressed' like the Monbuttoo, and had a minia- 
ture lance and bow and arrows. His stature w r as 4 feet 10 inches, 
probably above the average height of his nation. He jumped about 
with extraordinary agility, and the interpreter said that the Akka leap 



392 



A BRAVE GERMAN AMONG THE CANNIBALS 



through the grass like grasshoppers, and are so bold and clever that 
they shoot their arrows into the elephants' eyes and drive their lances 
into their bellies. After this Schweinfurth met with several hundreds 
of these diminutive warriors, none of whom, though full grown, 
exceeded in height the first one seen. He also secured one of the 
pygmy boys, whom the king gave him as a present to take to Europe, 
and the boy having no relations living, there was no one to object. 
Though little "Tikki-tikki" (the Niam-Niam name for the dwarfs) 
soon was quite reconciled to the change, and accompanied his master 
everywhere, delighting in hunting and the fights he witnessed, he so 
overgorged himself with eating that an illness was brought on, from 
which he died in Berber. 

Schweinfurth's journey ended in a serious misfortune, a fire 
breaking out in a village in which he was staying and spreading with 
such rapidity that his journal and nearly all his effects were destroyed. 
Much was irretrievably lost, but the traveler was too stout-hearted to 
give up. From memoranda saved, and from memory, he constructed 
the greater part of his journal again, though of course the specimens 
collected, with which he had hoped to enrich the museums of Europe, 
were gone. At one time he even resolved to make another journey 
into the Niam-Niam country, but the hostilities going on there pre- 
vented his realizing this project. Returning to Khartoum, and thence 
to Suakin on the Red Sea, he embarked for Europe, and arrived on 
November 2, 1871, after three years and four months' absence, having 
during that time visited kingdoms till then unknown, and accomplished 
more than any other traveler in the way of adding to our knowledge 
of the natural history of the great central regions of the African 
continent. 



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